20 Year Old Tibetan Monk Self-immolates in Golok

Tibetan sources tell VOA that Tsering Gyal, a 20 year old Tibetan monk of Akyong Monastery from Pema County, Golok Tibetan Prefecture, Qinhai Province set himself on fire around 6.00 PM local time on November 11, 2013. Gyal is survived by his mother Rindol and father Sherphun.

According to accounts from eyewitnesses, Chinese officials arrived at the scene within minutes of the incident, and put the fire out with a fire extinguisher. Tsering Gyal’s body was immediately confiscated by the authorities and is believed to be taken to a nearby hospital. However, his current condition and exact location are still uknown. Pictures surfacing the net show the monks of Akyong Monastery and local Tibetans on their way to locate Tsering Gyal at the nearby hospitals, only to be resisted by the Chinese officials and were stopped from proceeding any further.

A local resident of Golok says Tsering Gyal self-immolated for the freedom of six million Tibetans and return of the Dalai Lama to his palace, Potala.

Tibetan social media has reported another case of self immolation by a Tibetan women in Ngaba Prefecture on November 10, 2013. The details of that incident are still unknown.

These latest incidents bring the number of known Tibetan self immolators to 124 since March, 2009. Self-immolators have repeatedly called for the freedom of Tibetans and the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet.