Smoke billows from forest fire in Nyagchuka county, Tibet, Jan. 25, 2014. Yes folks, it's the middle of the Himalayan winter!
A forest fire burning out of control in western China's Sichuan province appears set to spread to a monastery and the main town of a Tibetan-populated county, following the near-total destruction of the center of another Tibetan town in a neighboring province two weeks ago, sources say.
The cause of the fire, which began on Jan. 25 in a hilly area of Nyagchukha (in Chinese, Yajiang) county in the Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture,
is still unknown, a local source told RFA's Tibetan Service on Sunday.
"But the fire was still burning on Jan. 26," RFA's source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"If the fire is not brought under control soon, it may spread to the Nyagchukha county seat and to a small monastery located on the side of a mountain called Phagmo Hill," he said.
Nyagchukha, one of 11 counties under the jurisdiction of Kardze prefecture, is famous as the home of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, a popular and well-respected Tibetan religious leader jailed by China since 2002 on bombing charges widely believed to have been contrived.
