Tibetan monk burns himself to death

A Tibetan monk immolated himself at Amchok town in Sangchu county in Tibet calling for unity among Tibetans and the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet.

According to information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), Tsultrim Gyatso, about 41, set himself on fire at around 2.30 p.m. Thursday and died soon after.

He was a monk at Amchok Monastery. He died instantly and soon local Tibetans and monks took his charred body to his monastery.

Sources told TCHRD that over 400 monks gathered to recite prayers and conduct rituals at the deceased's residence at the monastery.

In his last note, Tsultrim Gyatso wrote that the reasons for his self-immolation protest are to call for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet, release of the 11th Panchen Lama Gedun Choekyi Nyima, and for the welfare of the six million Tibetans.

Since March 2011, over 120 people have died in self-immolation protests in Tibet, according to Free Tibet, a non-profit, non-governmental organisation.