A second Burning Man attendee has died in the closing days of this year’s festival, organizers confirmed, two days after a first participant died following a medical emergency at Black Rock City, Nevada.
Burning Man officials said in a statement that campmates found Craigh Mann, 60, deceased at his camp on Saturday, September 5, at approximately 3 p.m. The organization did not disclose a cause of death or further circumstances, and said support was made available through the event’s Black Rock Rangers and Emergency Services Department.
The first death came on September 3, when organizers said a participant in his mid-50s experienced a medical emergency in Black Rock City. According to Burning Man’s statement, he “immediately received lifesaving measures” from onsite responders and was transported to the event’s emergency care center, where he was pronounced deceased. His identity was withheld pending notification of his family, and organizers have not released it since.
What officials have said
Burning Man’s statements on both deaths have stopped short of naming a cause, and neither the organization nor the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office, which has jurisdiction over Black Rock City, has indicated foul play in either case. Investigations into the circumstances of both deaths remain open.
Burning Man draws roughly 70,000 people each year to a temporary city built on a remote alkali flat in northwest Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, more than 100 miles from the nearest hospital. The event’s size and isolation have made medical response times and heat- and dust-related health risks a recurring focus for organizers, who staff an onsite emergency medical operation for the duration of the gathering.
The 2026 festival, themed around the week culminating in the burning of the effigy known as the Man, is scheduled to conclude on September 7. Organizers have not said whether either death will affect the remaining days of programming.
Sources: Burning Man Journal · NBC News · San Francisco Chronicle
