Fresh batch of pilgrims leaves for Amarnath yatra; briefly halted en route after landslide blocks highway

PTI

Banihal/Jammu, August 6

Pilgrims on way to the Amarnath cave shrine were stopped briefly in Ramban district on Sunday after a landslide blocked the Jammu-Srinagar national highway near Keela Morh, the officials said.

After a day-long suspension, the Amarnath Yatra had resumed from Jammu early Sunday, with a fresh batch of 1,626 pilgrims leaving the base camp here to join the annual pilgrimage in the south Kashmir Himalayas.

However, the pilgrims were stopped for a couple of hours at the Chankerkote Yatri Niwas in Ramban district at 6:15 am.

The agency concerned pressed its men and machinery and managed to clear the road of the debris to ensure its reopening by 9 am, the officials said.

They said the pilgrim convoy was allowed to move towards its destination and have crossed the landslide-hit area.

Earlier in the day, the 34th batch of 1,626 pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in a convoy of 64 vehicles between 3.30 am and 3.45 am.

While 1,092 of them are heading for the Pahalgam base camp in Anantnag district, the remaining 534 devotees are on their way to the Baltal base camp in Ganderbal district, they said.

More than 4.17 lakh pilgrims have so far visited the 3,888-metre-high Amarnath cave shrine since the commencement of the 62-day-long annual yatra on July 1.

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