05 September 2023 , 13:01
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The US government's Federal Emergency Management Agency has dispelled rumours they were called to Burning Man to help out with an ebola outbreak.
This comes as tens of thousands of 'burners', as the festival goers are called, are trying to leave the site after being bogged in by thick mud for days. Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen said that revellers have “lashed out” at each other as they faced long waits to leave.
Heavy rain swamped the site on Friday making the ground impassable for most vehicles. The planned ending to the week-long event was called off and amid general confusion wild rumours began to circulate - everything from cannibalism to Hazmat suit clad FEMA agents carting off ebola patients.
People walk along a muddy path at the Burning Man festival site (AP)A spokesperson for FEMA told the Mirror Online that the agency wasn't called to the site nor did it attend. They said: "There have been no requests for FEMA assistance or resources from local or state authorities related to Burning Man. Therefore, there are no FEMA personnel or teams responding.
"We continue to monitor weather and weather-related impacts as we do across our region every day."
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Sheriff Allen also back at this rumour in a statement, which read: “In consultation with the Bureau of Land Management and the Burning Man Project, there is no validity to any reports regarding an Ebola outbreak, or any other disease."
Organisers also asked attendees not to walk out of the Black Rock Desert about 110 miles (177 kilometres) north of Reno as others had done throughout the weekend, including celebrity DJ Diplo and comedian . They didn’t specify why.
Burners take on the mud (https://eu.rgj.com)“As usually happens in what burners refer to as the ‘default world’ people allow their emotions to override their reasonableness and they are lashing out at each other as they leave the playa and attempt to make it to their next destination,” Sheriff Allen told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Although reports of multiple deaths appear unfounded, one unfortunate festival goer, who was later identified as 32-year-old Leon Reece, did die.
Pershing County Sheriff revealed he was found unresponsive at the festival site in the northern Nevada desert.. This comes as the mass exodus away from the site continues with ground firm enough to take the steady stream of vehicles.
A deluge turned the site into mud (Reno Gazette Journal Video)Police did not reveal where Mr Reece was from but did say his family have been notified. The is pending an autopsy by the Washoe County Medical Examiner but the death did not appear to be related, Pershing County Sheriff Sgt Nathan Carmichael told the Reno Gazette Journal.
According to Sheriff Jerry Allen, emergency services were called at 6.24pm on September 1 about a man who was unresponsive at the festival site. The dispatcher was told on-site medical personnel were administering CPR.
The Sheriff said that rain and tough conditions that night made it hard for deputies to reach the young man and begin their investigation. By the time officers arrived, a doctor at Burning Man had declared Mr Reece dead.