Entertainment
Muse’s Matt Bellamy is latest star to flee Burning Man as thousands stranded by heavy rain at chaotic festival where one person has died-Rebecca Sayce and Alistair McGeorge-Entertainment – Metro
The Nevada desert has been left like a mud-bath.
Matt Bellamy is the latest star to escape the mud bath (Picture: Getty/AFP/Instagram)
Muse frontman Matt Bellamy biked through miles through the Nevada desert to leave Burning Man Festival as heavy rain left thousands stranded.
The flooding has left attendees ankle-deep in mud with 70,000 people thought to be stranded, and authorities are investigating a death at the festival, although organisers say it’s not related to the weather.
Bad weather at the US festival has made the ground too slippery to even walk on, with roads surrounding the area closed as vehicles cannot drive on them, while organisers are still planning to carry out its finale ‘Man burn’ tonight (September 4) at 9pm local time.
Celebrities had also descended on the music event, with the likes of Chris Rock and Diplo seen fleeing the chaos in fits of giggles as they waded their way out of the mud for two miles before a fan picked them up in a truck.
Grabbing his poncho and hitting the road, Muse rocker Matt cycled out of the festival and documented the journey on his Instagram page.
He shared pictures and videos across his wet and rainy trip, all smiles in a fetching red waterproof, fur coat, and thick eyewear to protect against the elements.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
The Muse frontman cycled away from the festival site (Picture: Instagram/@mattbellamy)
He was glad to have escaped (Picture: Instagram/@mattbellamy)
‘Biked out of Burning man to Gerlach, 5 miles through boggy wet desert and 12 miles on mountain roads, epic journey!’ he captioned the post.
One possible escape route from the festival has remained viable, which involves a five-mile hike through the mud to the blacktop country road 34 – and it’s this option that model Kelly Gale, 28, and her 43-year-old fiance Joel Kinnaman and their pals opted for.
On Saturday afternoon local time, the Victoria’s Secret model took to Instagram with a photo of her feet clad in walking boots, which she had taped plastic bags around in an attempt to avoid them getting bogged down with mud.
Model Kelly Gale and fiance Joel Kinnaman also made their escape (Picture: Instagram/kellygale)
‘Fingers crossed,’ she captioned the picture on her Instagram Stories as their trek began, and she kept fans updated with snapshots of their progress before showing Joel striding next to her in mud-covered boots as she observed they were ‘getting to safety’.
The festival is famous for the giant wooden man that is burnt at the end of the event, and for its interactive art installations.
The Burning Man campsite has turned from a sandy desert into a total mud-bath due to a half-inch of rain, and organisers have urged people to ‘conserve food, water, and fuel’ and to ‘shelter in a warm, safe space’.
Tens of thousands of people are stranded due to the weather (Picture: DJSHARAM/UGC/AFP via Getty Images)
In the meantime, they added that no one is allowed to leave or enter the site, with the gate and airport in and out of Black Rock City still ‘closed’.
Anyone planning on travelling to the festival – which was due to run from August 27 until September 4 – will be ‘turned around’ as it’s now shut for the remainder of the event.
Adding on their X – formerly Twitter – account, organisers told people in the desert to ‘help each other stay safe’ amid the adverse conditions.
According to the BBC, a source at the event said that ‘everyone is fine’ but there is a ‘sense of uncertainty’, adding: ‘Signal [across the camp] is the problem, we can’t really communicate with anyone.’
More: Trending
The source also noted that portable toilets were out of use, and those in tents were being allowed into the family campervan facilities.
This isn’t the first time Burning Man has been faced with challenging weather conditions, after last year’s event experienced a sudden sandstorm.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
MORE : Authorities investigating death at Burning Man as thousands remain stranded amid festival flooding
Entertainment – MetroRead More
