BLACK ROCK CITY-Tens of thousands of festivalgoers were stranded Sunday in deep mud in the Nevada desert after rain turned the annual Burning Man gathering into a quagmire, with police investigating one death.
Video footage showed costume-wearing “burners” struggling across the wet gray-brown site, some using trash bags as makeshift boots, while many vehicles were stuck in the sludge.
All events at the counterculture festival, which drew some 70,000 people, were canceled after rain tore down structures for dance parties, art installations and other entertainment.
Police said they were probing one death, without giving further details.
Road gates in and out of the Black Rock City venue were closed, but some desperate attendees trudged on foot for hours to reach the nearest road and hitch a lift out.
“It was an incredibly harrowing six-mile (10 kilometer) hike at midnight through heavy and slippery mud, but I got safely out,” lawyer Neal Katyal said on social media. “It is very slippery and the mud is like cement and sticks to your boots.
“No one should try this unless in good shape and part of a group. These are dangerous conditions to hike and will likely get worse.” Festival crowds were asked to shelter in place and conserve food and water after the heavy rains started Friday night, with more downpours forecast on Sunday.
“You can’t really walk or drive,” a young woman named Christine Lee, a circus performer, said on TikTok. Internet service was either not available or patchy, she said.
“My boots are five inches, and the mud became five inches so I was kind of on stilts,” Lee said, adding people were being told they may be stuck until Tuesday. “We have enough tuna for a week so we’re OK.” A video posted on social media showed comedian Chris Rock hitching a ride in the back of a pickup truck after managing to leave.
Source: https://www.nation.com.pk/05-Sep-2023/thousands-still-stuck-in-mud-at-burning-man-festival-one-dead
