Burning Man deaths this year triple the average as attendee age at Nevada’s desert festival ticks upward

More attendees are in their 40s and 50s, with fewer festival-goers in their 20s

Three people died at Burning Man this year, tripling the average number of deaths in connection with the annual festival that brings tens of thousands of people to build a temporary utopian community in the brutal conditions of the Nevada desert.

The increase in fatalities comes as news reports have highlighted that the average age of Burning Man attendees is increasing, with fewer participants in their 20s, and more in their 40s and 50s.