Burning Man festival-goer shows grim conditions after flooding chaos
Officials have revealed the suspected cause of death for the man who died at Burning Man as the Nevada festival descended into chaos with heavy rainfall, flooding and muddy conditions.
The man, identified as 32-year-old Leon Reece, was found unresponsive on the playa on Friday, with emergency responders unable to revive him. The exact cause of Reece’s death is still pending but the Washoe County Medical Examiner’s Office said in a statement on Tuesday that drug intoxication was suspected.
Attendees finally began leaving the city at Black Rock City on Monday afternoon after the extreme weather subsided and organisers reopened the route to vehicles.
Tempers frayed during the exodus, however, with Pershing County sheriff Jerry Allen saying that attendees “lashed out” at each other as they waited to leave the desert.
While wait times reached as much as seven hours, by Wednesday morning they were down to just 20 minutes, according to the festival’s social media account.
Officials also debunked a conspiracy theory that the event was hit with an Ebola outbreak.
