Tenpa Dhargey and Chime Palden travelled around 80 km from Gyalrong Tsodun Kirti Monastery in Tsodun Township to immolate themselves in Barkham. Barkham is the government headquarters of both Barkham County and the Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. The two monks carried out their protest outside the prefectural government offices. Both monks were transported by Chinese security personnel to a nearby prefecture hospital and held under strict security.

The following day, 31 March, Chime Palden was declared dead by the hospital. His body was cremated immediately and the Chinese authorities handed over his ashes to Tsodun Monastery.

Chime Palden had moved to Kirti Monastery in Ngaba as a philosophy student in 2009, but stayed only a few months. In 2010, when he was visiting Lhasa, policemen found images of the Dalai Lama, a picture of the Tibetan national flag and the lyrics of a Tibetan song on his phone, for which he was detained for more than a month.

On 7 April 2012, around 9:23 am (local time), Tenpa Dhargey died in hospital from burn injuries sustained during their self-immolation protest. According to a statement released by Kirti Monastery in Dharamshala, “Although fervent requests were made to hand over the deceased’s body to the family and the monastery, the Chinese authorities cremated Tenpa Dhargey’s body at around one in the afternoon.” His ashes and last remains were handed over at around 4 pm. The release added, “When his remains were being carried to Tsodun Kirti Monastery, three large military vehicles tailed them.”

Tenpa Dhargey studied philosophy at Kirti Monastery from 2003-2009 and returned to Tsodun where he was regarded as one of the best students in logic and debate class. He was the youngest in a family of four brothers and sisters.