A third Burning Man attendee has died as this year’s festival came to a close, the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office confirmed, bringing the number of deaths connected to the 2026 event to three in the span of a week.
Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen said he had received word of a third person who died while being transported to a hospital in Reno, roughly 120 miles south of Black Rock City. Authorities did not release the person’s identity, age, or any further details, and the death falls under Washoe County jurisdiction because it occurred in transit. Allen noted that the festival typically sees about one death a year, making three fatalities in a single week unusual.
The third death follows two others reported earlier in the week. Burning Man officials said 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 later identified as Sampson Tshombe experienced a medical emergency after being found on a street 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.
What officials have said
Officials have stopped short of naming a cause in any of the three deaths, and neither Burning Man organizers nor the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office, which has jurisdiction over Black Rock City, have indicated foul play in any case. The Washoe County Medical Examiner’s Office is expected to conduct autopsies for all three individuals, with toxicology results typically taking six to eight weeks.
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. Heavy rain earlier in the week turned parts of the playa to mud and prompted a temporary closure of the event’s main gate.
The 2026 festival, themed around the week culminating in the burning of the effigy known as the Man, was scheduled to conclude on September 7. Organizers have not said whether the deaths will affect plans for next year’s event.
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Sources: Burning Man Journal · NBC News · San Francisco Chronicle · News 4 Reno
