World Tibet Network News Tuesday, April 28, 1998 (II)

NEW DELHI, April 28 (AFP) - A Tibetan who set himself on fire in protest when police broke up a marathon hunger strike by six compatriots is unlikely to survive, hospital sources said Tuesday.

Sources at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital said Thupten Ngodub, with 100 percent burns, was battling for his life after his self-immolation on Monday.

"He is very serious... His chances of survival are remote despite all the life support systems we have put him on," said a doctor, who declined to be named.

"Ngodub is on oxygen but he is weakening... We are also losing hope," said one of the doctors caring for the Tibetan, a former soldier with a Tibetan wing of the Indian army.

A paramedic earlier Tuesday said: "We are also praying." She added the hospital was flooded with telephone calls from wellwishers from across the world.

The Dalai Lama, the Tibetans' spiritual leader, was expected in New Delhi later Tuesday and supporters said he may visit Ngodub in hospital.

The police have restricted visitors to the ward where he is being treated under heavy guard, witnesses said.

Ngodub, 50, set himself on fire after police forcibly took the last three members of a Tibetan hunger strike team to hospital on Monday. Three others had been forced to abandon the almost 50-day fast on Sunday.

The Tibetans said the protest over China's continued occupation of their homeland resumed early Tuesday with a fresh batch of six men, each representing a million of Tibet's six million people.

Ngodub was named as one of the new hunger strikers.

Police here fear Tibetan protests could swell with similar suicide attempts if Ngodub dies.

The Dalai Lama, who visited the hunger strikers during their protest, has lived in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala since fleeing his homeland in 1959 following a failed anti-China uprising.

Chinese troops marched into Tibet in 1951. More than 100,000 Tibetan refugees live in India.