COPENHAGEN, Oct 31, 2006 (HPI Note: This is an interview of mountaineer Pierre Maina by the Epoch Times):
Forty-seven-year-old Maina is the doctor in charge of surgery at the Slagelse Sygehus Hospital in Denmark, as well as a member of the Mountaineering Association. The association has 400 mountaineering fans from around the world with most of the members being from western European countries. Two months ago, Pierre and three other Danish mountaineers fans joined the fall mountaineering trip organized by the association. They planned to climb Cho Oyu Mountain in Tibet, which has an elevation of 8,000 meters. According to Maina, this mountaineering trip left an indelible mark on his psyche.
“On Saturday morning, September 30, I was sleeping in the tent and suddenly was woken up by the sounds of shooting. At first I didn’t realize that the sounds were gunshots, as I never heard shooting before. After five to ten minutes I had changed into my clothes and walked out of my tent. The first thing I saw is that some 50 meters from our tent, some Tibetans tried to run fast, and they all seemed like children. Many Chinese soldiers began shooting at them. I saw the person at the very front of this group shot and fall down,” Maina recalled. Maina didn’t know what happened at that time, so he walked to another tent of
the encampment. Their cook, two Tibetans and five Nepalis were there. Through their introduction, he then knew that a group of Tibetans was trying to across the border to go to India to find their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, for shelter. In order to stop them, the Chinese border guards shot them. “They told me that Tibetans are usually not allowed to cross the border, and they cannot obtain permission to leave Tibet. Only a few Tibetans are allowed to sell goods in Nepal.” Maina, after witnessing the shooting, was so shocked that he couldn’t speak a word. “At that time I could not comprehend what had happened. Everything just seemed so unbelievable,” he said.
Maina filmed the incident, which can be found here.