Twenty-five year old Lobsang Dorje, a former Kirti monk, set fire to himself on the main road near the monastery in Ngaba, after attending a monastic mask dance that morning. He was still alive when he was taken away by police.

Kirti monks in exile said: “As they were driving him away in the back of a pickup van covered with black canvas, he sat up and joined his palms, but the policemen pushed him back down. At present it is not known whether he is alive or dead, or where he has been taken.”