Officials have reported the passing of a third participant at the Burning Man festival, mere days after festival organizers announced the deaths of two additional attendees during the yearly event held in the Nevada desert.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the Washoe County Regional Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed that Armando Ramirez from Truckee, California, succumbed to his condition while being transported to a Reno hospital, located approximately 190 kilometers south of the festival site.
The 51-year-old was declared deceased in the ambulance during the early hours of Friday.
According to the examiner’s office, “The cause and manner of death remain under investigation pending further testing. There is no indication of foul play.”
The festival, which takes place annually over the course of a week and focuses on artistic installations and self-expression, also reported two other fatalities last week, which were similarly confirmed by the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday.
Craigh Mann, aged 60, was discovered deceased on Saturday around 3 p.m. local time, as stated by the festival in a statement. The sheriff’s office, referring to him as Craig Mann, reported that he had been in a trailer he shared with his partner.
The festival previously mentioned that another attendee, a man in his mid-50s, “suffered a medical emergency” and was pronounced dead after receiving emergency assistance. The sheriff’s office identified him as Sampson Tshombe, noting he passed away at the festival’s makeshift hospital on Thursday.
Thousands gather to watch ‘the Man’ burn at the end of the Burning Man festival on Sept. 2, 2017. (Jim Urquhart/Reuters)
Authorities indicated that there were no signs of foul play in the deaths of Mann or Tshombe, but both cases will undergo autopsies and toxicology tests, with results expected in six to eight weeks.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the festival, which began on August 30 and concluded on Monday. Each year, tens of thousands of individuals travel to the desert to camp and engage in avant-garde performances, culminating in the incineration of a large wooden effigy resembling a man.
The festival has witnessed fatalities in previous years. Since relocating from Baker Beach in San Francisco to the Black Rock Desert in 1990, more than six deaths have been reported, according to The Associated Press.
Jerry Allen, the sheriff and coroner of Pershing County, stated in a Monday announcement that the festival typically records an average of one death per year, as reported by NBC News.