Man dies after running into flames at Burning Man festival

A man has died after running into flames at the Burning Man festival in the US.

Aaron Joel Mitchell, 41, broke through a two-layer security fence as the wooden effigy was set alight marking the end of the event in the Nevada desert.

Mr Mitchell was airlifted to hospital but died hours later from his injuries.

Doctors said he was not under the influence of alcohol at the time but a toxicology report is pending.

"We don't know if it was intentional on his part or if it was just kind of induced by drugs. We're not sure of that yet," said Nevada's Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen.

More than 70,000 people are attending the nine-day art and music celebration in the Black Rock Desert, which ends on Monday.

In the past festival-goers have tried to run into the flames to get a piece of the spectacle as a token.

Mr Allen said it is a problem that the organisers have tried to contain by having their own rangers stage a human-chain to prevent people from getting to the fire.

He said this is the first time someone has got through like this and the only fatality that he is aware of in his 15 years with the county.

"People try to run into the fire as part of their spiritual portion of Burning Man," he said.

"The significance of the man burning, it's just kind of a rebirth, they burn the man to the ground, a new chapter has started. It's part of their tenets of radical self-expression."

Known for eclectic artwork, offbeat theme camps, concerts and other entertainment, Burning Man began in San Francisco before moving to Nevada in 1990.

Over the years as the event grew in popularity, deaths and crime have been reported, ranging from car crashes to drug use.

In 2014, a man in Utah died by jumping into a huge ceremonial bonfire in an event that was similar to Burning Man. It was investigated as a suicide.