Kalsang Wangdu

“[While he burned], he called out for Tibet’s complete independence,” a Tibetan source told RFA, adding that witnesses to Wangdu’s protest “intervened,” intending to take him to Sichuan’s provincial capital for treatment.He carried out his self-immolation around 4pm by his monastery, the Retsokha Aryaling monastery. (RFA report,A Tibetan monk named Kalsang Wangdu, aged 18, has died after setting himself on fire on February 29 (2016) in Nyarong County in Kardze (Chinese: Ganzi), eastern Tibet, according to Radio Free Asia. (RFA report, http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/burns-03012016164905.html).

• 145 Tibetans have self-immolated in Tibet and China since February 27, 2009. A Rinpoche and his niece, died in a fire – according to information from the Tibetan government in exile and Woeser, this may have been a self-immolation that was later erroneously described as a house fire. See details below on Thubten Nyandak Rinpoche and his niece Atse.
• 118 men, 27 women
• 117 of the 145 are known to have died following their protest
• 25 of the Tibetans who self-immolated were 18 or under
• 45 of the 145 are from Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province
• 13 of the 145 were monks at Kirti monastery in Ngaba
• 11 of the 145 are former monks at Kirti monastery in Ngaba (It is currently not known who of the nine chose to disrobe, or were expelled from the monastery by government authorities)
• Two of the 145 were nuns from Mame Dechen Chokorling nunnery in Ngaba
• 144 of the self-immolations have occurred since March 16, 2011
• Eight self-immolations by Tibetans have occurred in exile https://www.savetibet.org/resources/fact-sheets/self-immolations-by-tibetans/