Kunchok, 42, burned himself in front of a police station in protest against Chinese rule. The incident took place in Gade county, Tsang Khor town in the Golog region of Tibet. Tibetans nearby managed to douse the flames and rushed Kunchok to a hospital in Xining, reports Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Information about Kunchok’s self-immolation is surfacing only now due to communication clampdowns after his protest. “He is now in great pain. While he’s being treated [secretly], he often breaks down in tears over his failure to die in the self-immolation. He regrets not accomplishing what he planned to do” a source has told RFA. Kunchok’s chances of survival are said to be “slim”. Family members fear that Kunchok could be taken away by the authorities if he survives,and if he does not, they fear his body would not be returned to them.. Kunchok has a son and a daughter who are monk and nun in a local monastery.