JAMMU: Amid tight security, the 14th batch of 6,400 Amarnath Yatra pilgrims on Wednesday here left for twin base camps of the 3,880-meter-high holy cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said.
The yatra, which was suspended from Jammu due to bad weather on Sunday, resumed on Monday.
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 are still missing.
A total of 6,415 pilgrims left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas here in a convoy of 258 vehicles amid heavy security of CRPF, the officials said. Of these, 4,545 were men, 1,744 women, 43 children, 79 sadhus and four sadhvis, they said.
The officials said 2,428 pilgrims heading for Baltal were the first to leave the Bhagwati Nagar camp in 88 vehicles around 3.30 am, followed by the second convoy of 170 vehicles carrying 3,987 pilgrims for Pahalgam at 4.30 am.
So far, over 1.30 lakh pilgrims have offered their prayers at the cave shrine, housing the naturally formed ice-shivlingam, the officials said.
A total of 83,073 pilgrims have left from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp 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.