A 3rd festival-goer dies at Burning Man

Alexandra Mae Jones · CBC News

· Posted: Sep 08, 2026 7:04 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

Authorities have confirmed the death of a third attendee of the Burning Man festival, days after organizers said two other festival-goers had died during the annual event in the Nevada desert.

The Washoe County Regional Medical Examiner's Office said in a statement on Tuesday that Armando Ramirez of Truckee, Calif., died while being taken to a hospital in Reno, Nev., roughly 190 kilometres south of the festival.

The 51-year-old was pronounced dead in the ambulance in the early hours of Friday.

"The cause and manner of death are pending the results of additional testing," the examiner's office said. "There is no concern for foul play."

The festival, which runs annually in the desert for about a week and centres on art installations and self-expression, last week announced two other deaths, which were also confirmed on Tuesday by the Pershing County Sheriff's Office.

Craigh Mann, 60, was found dead on Saturday at about 3 p.m. local time, the festival said in a statement. The sheriff's office, which referred to him as Craig Mann, said that he had been in a trailer he shared with his significant other.

The festival said earlier that another festival-goer, a man in his mid-50s, "experienced a medical emergency" and was pronounced dead after receiving emergency care. The sheriff's office identified him as Sampson Tshombe and said he died at the festival's temporary 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 said there was no sign of foul play in Mann or Tshombe's deaths, but that both would undergo an autopsy and a toxicology screening, with results coming in six to eight weeks.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the festival. It began on Aug. 30. and concluded on Monday. Every year, tens of thousands of people flock to the desert to camp in the wilderness and participate in avant-garde performances, with the event culminating in the burning of a large wooden sculpture shaped like a man.

The festival has been marred by death before. More than a half-dozen other deaths have been reported at the festival since it moved from Baker Beach in San Francisco to the Black Rock desert in 1990, The Associated Press reports.

Jerry Allen, Pershing County sheriff and coroner, said in a Monday statement that the festival averages one death a year, according to NBC News.