One person died at the Burning Man festival, while tens of thousands of participants were still locked out on Sunday in the area where the annual event takes place, organized in the desert of the US state of Nevada, which turned into a field covered in mud after heavy rainfall, informs AFP and Agerpres .

Late Saturday, Nevada State Police said they were investigating the death “which occurred during heavy rain,” but did not provide additional details about the circumstances of the death.

Founded in 1986 in San Francisco, Burning Man is an annual event that’s hard to define, straddling the border between a counterculture celebration and a spiritual retreat. Since the 1990s, the festival has taken place in the Black Rock Desert, a protected area in northwestern Nevada that organizers are committed to preserving.

However, in recent years, the American press has nicknamed the festival the “millionaire/billionaire festival” or the “rich festival”, as its participants include numerous directors from Silicon Valley and heads of companies such as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos or Sergey Brin and Larry Page , the two co-founders of Google.

Judging by several videos posted on social media, the perimeter where the festival takes place, the huge open-air field “Playa”, has become impassable.

“A little over 70,000 people” were still trapped at the scene Sunday morning, County Sheriff Nathan Carmichael told CNN. On Friday, due to bad weather, access to Black Rock City was closed, as the temporary city where the event takes place, located several tens of kilometers from the nearest cities, is called.

Post-apocalyptic scenes at the Burning Man festival.

Some onlookers, frightened by the situation, tried to leave the area on foot, covering their shoes with plastic bags to reach the only accessible road, located about eight kilometers away.

“It was an incredibly difficult 10-kilometer ride in the middle of the night through deep, slippery mud, but I managed to get home safe and sound,” Neil Katial, a lawyer who attended the festival, said in a statement. in the social network “X”, known until recently as “Twitter”.

“It was extremely slippery, and the mud is like cement, it sticks to your shoes” and can act like “quicksand,” he warned, urging other spectators to try to cross such a path only as a group and only in good physical condition. .

Others tried in vain to escape, and the SUV became stuck in the mud underneath, according to one of the few videos available from the scene, as internet access is limited in the area. .

Dutch woman Pascale Brand, 40, decided to leave after “crying a lot” “regardless of what might happen”.

“I was scared by what was happening, so many people were left without water, food, toilet paper, I felt I had to get out of here,” she told AFP. The Dutch tourist got into a neighbor’s car, with whom she managed to leave the area, despite the thick layer of mud.

Authorities in Nevada asked participants to stay put

According to a White House official, President Joe Biden has been briefed on the situation.

“Participants of the event should listen to the national and local authorities, as well as to the organizers of the event,” he recommended.

Local authorities asked spectators to “remain at the scene until the ground is firm and safe enough” to drive through.

The Burning Man festival is set to end on Monday, but attendees could be stranded until Tuesday or Wednesday if the rain continues.

Organizers advised spectators on Saturday morning to “use water, supplies and fuel wisely and seek a warm and safe shelter”. They also undertook to provide several antennas for Internet access.

“We come here (in the middle of the desert – ed.) knowing that this is a place where you have to take everything you need to survive. For this reason, we are all well prepared for this type of meteorological event,” they said in a statement on Saturday.

The heavy rains caused a series of floods in other parts of Nevada, including the valley where the city of Las Vegas is located. Last year’s Burning Man festival faced intense heat and strong winds.