Grim news from Nevada, where it’s been reported that a murder investigation has started after a man was found “lying in a pool of blood” at the Burning Man festival.
The incident took place on Saturday evening (August 30). Police were alerted by a festival goer who had found a man "lying on the ground, obviously deceased" at a campsite, Nevada's Pershing County Sheriff's office has said.
The victim's identity has not been released as yet. The festival has said that it is cooperating with law enforcement and urged those at the site not to interfere with the investigation. Part of the festival site in the Black Rock Desert has been cordoned off as police officers have begun investigating alongside a forensics team.
Sheriff Jerry Allen has said "several participants in the immediate area" have already been interviewed, adding that: “Although this act appears to be a singular crime, all participants should always be vigilant of their surroundings and acquaintances.”
This has already been a difficult year for the festival – with extreme weather, including gale force winds and thunderstorms, affecting the first few days of the event last week. The fatality on Saturday is not the first at Burning Man though – there was a death during torrential rains in 2023 and in 2017 one man actually ran into the huge effigy that gives the festival its name, whilst it was on fire.
