Rain leaves thousands stranded in muddy mess at Burning Man

Tens of thousands of festivalgoers were stranded Sunday in deep mud in the Nevada desert where the annual arts and music festival after rain turned the annual Burning Man gathering into a quagmire, with police investigating one death.

All events at the counterculture festival, which drew some 70,000 people, were canceled after rain tore down structures for dance parties, art installations and other entertainment.

Police said they were probing one death, without giving further details. Fear set in among some attendees desperate to flee the muddy site.

The festival gets its name from its culminating event, the burning of a large wooden structure called "The Man" on the penultimate night.