A 32-year-old festival attendee named Leon Reece from Truckee, California, passed away during the Burning Man festival. The event took place in the remote Black Rock Desert in Nevada, and heavy rains and mud trapped around 70,000 attendees over the weekend.
Leon Reece was found unresponsive at the festival grounds and was declared dead at the scene. While the exact cause of his death is still under investigation, there is suspicion of drug intoxication.
Due to the unusual rain that occurred, access to the area and the investigation were delayed. The heavy rain also caused problems for campers, flooding roads, and making them impassable for most vehicles. As a result, the festival’s main gate was closed, essentially keeping attendees inside.
Organizers advised people to stay put, conserve their resources, and shelter in place until the roads became passable again. Some individuals decided to walk over five miles to reach the nearest accessible road and leave the muddy campgrounds.
On Monday, a mass departure began after an announcement at 2 p.m. that people could start leaving by car. Organizers requested that festivalgoers consider staying until the annual “burn” event, where a 40-foot wooden man is set on fire. However, by late Monday, there was an eight-hour wait to exit the festival grounds. As of 2 p.m. local time on Tuesday, the wait time had decreased to about three hours.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7s63LpaqhnV6YvK5706uYoJ2Urnq0wNGiop6rXZbBbq7Uq6WippdiuqK6jGxpZrGVlr9uu8udZJ%2Bdo6m2t63LoKaeqqNiurq%2F056poqelqHqlscCtn2g%3D