A 29-year-old woman died Thursday after falling under a large vehicle at the Burning Man counter-cultural festival in the Nevada desert, organizers said
29-year-old woman died Thursday after falling under a large vehicle at the Burning Man counter-cultural festival in the Nevada desert, organizers said.
The fatal accident occurred as the gathering, which opened earlier this week and runs until Sept. 1, gets into full swing after being washed out by heavy rain for the first few days.
"This is a terrible accident," said Marian Goodell, co-founder of Burning Man, an annual event started as an art and self-expression festival and more recently adopted by Silicon Valley A-listers.
"Organizers are working with investigators from Pershing County Sheriff's Office to determine the series of events leading to the incident," a statement by organizers said.
The festival originated as a tiny event in San Francisco in 1986 but now draws 50,000 people or more each year, including many from the high-tech world.
Participants create a city in the middle of the desert that is "a temporary metropolis dedicated to community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance," and end their weeklong gathering by burning a giant wooden statue of a man.
This year massive downpours forced the postponement of the planned Monday opening of Burning Man.
Rains were so heavy that roads from the closest main city, Reno, to the site 110 miles (180 km) away in the arid Black Rock Desert were impassable. (***)
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