NEW DELHI, July 10: The Amarnath Yatra has been suspended from Jammu due to inclement weather and no fresh batch was allowed to proceed from Jammu to the base camps of the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said.
A flash flood triggered by very heavy rainfall near the cave shrine on Friday afternoon had led to the death of least 16 people while still around 40 people are reported “missing.”
The annual 43-day pilgrimage commenced from the twin base camps — Nunwan-Pahalgam in south Kashmir’s Anantnag and Baltal in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal — on June 30. Over 72,000 pilgrims have so far offered prayers at the cave shrine, the officials said.
A total of 69,535 pilgrims have left in 10 batches from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu for the Valley since June 29, the day the first batch of pilgrims was flagged off by Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha. The yatra is scheduled to end on August 11 on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.
(Manas Dasgupta)
