Murder in the Snow

Just watching "Murder in the Snow : This World" (BBC This World) on BBC2 - an amazing story of Tibetans fleeing Chinese oppression in the their homeland.  The stream of refugees seek to join the exiled Tibetan community in India where despite having to live in a foreign land life, in particular education and opportunity to say nothing of religious freedom, is better!

In September 2006, two groups of people crossed paths in the snow-capped Himalayas – one seeking freedom, the other adventure. A brutal shooting threw them together, changing their lives for ever.

In an incident that shocked the world, a 17-year-old nun, Kelsang Namtso, was killed when Chinese border police opened fire on a group of pilgrims as they fled Tibet over the famous Nangpa Pass – the gateway to Nepal and freedom. Kelsang, along with her best friend, Dolma Palki, was part of a group of young people who had embarked on a long journey to cross the border.

The shooting was witnessed by international mountain climbers who watched in horror from a nearby camp. As a cool-headed TV cameraman, Sergiu Matei, picked up his camera and started filming when the shooting began, others photographed the events and also helped rescue survivors. The story broke around the world when an American mountain guide, Luis Benitez, emailed his account of the incident to a popular climbing website – revealing for the first time the shooting of Tibetan refugees by Chinese border police.

Using the original climber footage, re-enactments and interviews with witnesses and survivors, Murder In The Snow – This World gives an account of what happened on the Pass and tells the story of thousands of young Tibetans who risk their lives each year to illegally cross the rugged Himalaya Mountains in an attempt to see their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, or attend school in India.

From primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk

Technorati Tags: China: Media: News: Television: Tibet