Tibetan sources tell VOA that a 17-year old Tibetan man has set himself on fire as part of a protest against Chinese rule in ethnic Tibetan areas of western China.

Sources say Songdhi Kyab from the Gannan region of Gansu province self-immolated around 3:30 p.m. local time Sunday. Witnesses say he was alive but appeared seriously injured when police took him to a hospital.

The young man was the third person to self-immolate in recent days.

At least 91 Tibetans have self-immolated in western China since 2009, with 28 cases reported last month. The acceleration in self-immolations has coincided with Tibetans staging several anti-China rallies, despite a heavy Chinese security presence.

Beijing accuses the India-based Dalai Lama of inciting the self-immolations to promote Tibetan separatism – a charge he denies. Speaking on a visit to Mumbai Wednesday, the Dalai Lama said totalitarian forms of government are on the decline globally, and he urged China's Communist rulers to act according to what he called the “new reality.”