If you're familiar with the Burning Man festival, you'll know that the climax of the Nevada desert festival is the burning of a 40-foot-tall wooden effigy.

Unfortunately, that same event led to tragedy over the weekend when a man threw himself into the fire and later died from his injuries.

Reports claim that the 41-year-old Aaron Mitchell made his way through two separate lines of security to reach the fire, which 50,000 people had gathered to witness.

He was airlifted to hospital with extensive burns but died on Sunday morning.

The festival later issued a statement explaining what had happened and revealing that 'emotional support teams' and counselling services were on hand to offer support to anyone who witnessed the tragedy.

Via NME