‘Heavy hearts’: Woman dies on first day of Burning Man festival

The death of a 39-year-old woman is being investigated after she was found unresponsive on the first day of the US festival.

A 39-year-old woman died on the first day of Burning Man — the popular counterculture festival held annually in the Nevada desert, authorities said.

The woman, Kendra Frazer, was found unresponsive at the festival on Sunday around 11:30am (US time) and attempts to revive her were unsuccessful, Burning Man organisers said in a statement.

Her cause of death is being investigated, pending autopsy and toxicology screenings, Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen said in a statement shared on Facebook.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Kendra’s family and friends,” Allen said.

The death occurred before the official start of the event, which the festival organisers confirmed began at 6pm, the New York Post reports.

Participants were allowed to enter the festival Sunday at midnight.

The woman was found unresponsive at the festival on Sunday. Picture: Julie Jammot/AFP

The woman’s death occurred before the official start of the event. Picture: Julie Jammot/AFP

“It is with heavy hearts that Burning Man Project confirms the death of a participant in Black Rock City in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert,” the festival organisers said in the statement.

“We understand that this news will be difficult for many in our community.”

Burning Man is a nine-day festival focused on community and art, which culminates in the symbolic burning of a large wooden effigy.

The event is held at Black Rock City, in northwestern Nevada, a temporary city erected in Black Rock Desert.

The festival kicked off early on Sunday after the gates had been closed for 12 hours due to inclement weather, The Guardianreported.

Approximately 20,000 festivalgoers were on the playa Playa — a silt alkaline Salt Pan — before the gates opened, and organisers expect more than 70,000 people to attend the nine-day event, according to The Guardian.

Festivalgoers have died in past years at Burning Man.

The nine day festival focuses on music and art. Picture: Instagram

Leon Reece, a 32-year-old man from California, died last year after being found unresponsive on the festival grounds. Authorities said that drugs were thought to be the cause of the death.

In 2017, 41-year-old Aaron Joel Mitchell, from Oklahoma, died after jumping into a massive, flaming effigy.

Each summer, tens of thousands of people, including celebrities like Paris Hilton, Heidi Klum, and Cindy Crawford, head to the Nevada desert for the festival.

The event was famously derailed last year when a rainstorm stranded thousands of festivalgoers in the mud, that included several A-listers. Chris Rock and DJ Diplo walked for six miles in the mud before they were offered a ride on a truck by a fan.

This article originally appeared in the New York Post and has been reproduced with permission.