Srinagar: Nearly 24,000 pilgrims on Monday paid obeisance to Lord Shiva at the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas, taking the total number of pilgrims this year to 93,000 in just five days, officials said here.
The officials said 23,800 pilgrims paid obeisance at the 3,880-metre high holy cave shrine on the Himalayas in south Kashmir on Monday.
The pilgrims comprised around 17,000 men, 4,000 women, several hundred security forces personnel and dozens of Sadhus and Sadhvis.
The total number of pilgrims who visited the cave shrine in the first five days of the 38-day yatra has risen to 93,341, they added.
Meanwhile, amid a multi-tier security cover, more than 8,600 pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu early Monday to join the annual Amarnath pilgrimage in the Himalayas, officials said.
More than 70,000 pilgrims have paid obeisance at the holy cave shrine located at a height of 3,880 metres since the start of the 38-day yatra, which commenced from the twin tracks of Pahalgam in the Anantnag district and Baltal in the Ganderbal district on July 3.
The sixth batch of 8,605 pilgrims — 6,486 men, 1,826 women, 42 children, and 251 sadhus and sadhvis — left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here in 372 vehicles for the twin base camps in Kashmir amid tight security arrangements at 3.30 am and 4.25 am, the officials said.
The first pilgrim convoy, carrying 3,486 pilgrims in 166 vehicles, left for the shorter but steeper 14-km Baltal route in the Ganderbal district, followed by the second convoy of 5,119 pilgrims in 206 vehicles who are undertaking the yatra from the 48-km traditional Pahalgam route in the Anantnag district, they said.
24,000 pilgrims visit cave shrine; 93,000 in 5 days
