Two people in eastern Tibet have died of the deadliest and least common form of plague, Chinese state media said Wednesday.

The health department of the Himalayan region was notified on Friday that two people had died of an unidentified illness in a village in the Linzhi area, more than 200 kilometers southeast of the capital Lhasa, the Beijing Times reported.

Health authorities examined the victims and determined they were cases of pneumonic plague.  Dr. Sonam Palden says it is a serious disease and Chinese authorities must not ignore it. 

Some information for this report was provided by AFP