New Delhi: The administration has suspended the Amarnath Yatra from Jammu due to inclement weather conditions and no fresh batch was allowed to proceed to the base camps of the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said.
A flash flood triggered by a cloudburst near the cave shrine on Friday afternoon has led to the death of at least 16 people. Around 40 people are still missing.
“Amarnath Yatra has been suspended from Jammu to twin base camps in Kashmir due to inclement weather. No fresh batch was allowed to move towards Amarnath,” an official said.
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.
The officials said over one lakh pilgrims have offered prayers at the cave shrine, housing the naturally formed ice ‘shivling’.
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.