DHARAMSHALA: The Central Tibetan Administration deeply mourns the sudden demise of Choephel Lungtok, a contractual staff serving at the Department of Education of the Central Tibetan Administration. He passed away suddenly, after returning from a swim near Norbulingka institute in Dharamshala on 19 April 2014. He was only 33.

As a mark of respect, the administration held a prayer service this afternoon at 04:00 pm, following which all the offices remained closed.

Choephel Lungtok was born in the family of Norgykhangsar, on 1 July 1981 in Toelung, Central Tibet. He came into exile in 1998 at the age of 17. He studied till class 10 at TCV Suja and completed his  +2 in science from TCV Upper Dharamshala. He has a Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) degree from Mangalore University.

He joined the Central Tibetan Administration on 1 August 2010 as an Under-Secretary on contractual basis. He was serving as a member of the Text Book Editorial section of the education department as well as the web-master of Sherig.org, the official website of Department of Education at the time of his demise.