32nd batch of Amarnath Yatra pilgrims leave Jammu amid tight security

The 32nd batch of over 450 pilgrims left Jammu for the twin base camps of the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said on Monday.

A total of 458 pilgrims left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas here in a convoy of 21 vehicles amid heavy security this morning, they said.

They said 164 pilgrims heading for Baltal were the first to leave the camp in eight vehicles followed by the second convoy of 13 vehicles carrying 294 pilgrims for Pahalgam.

The number of pilgrims visiting the cave shrine is drastically falling as the yatra is inching towards its conclusion and also due to bad weather conditions, officials said.

The annual 43-day yatra commenced from the twin base camps -- traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam in south Kashmir's Anantnag and 14-km shorter Baltal in central Kashmir's Ganderbal -- on June 30.

A total of 143,123 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.

A total of 36 people, mostly pilgrims, have died during the on-going Amarnath yatra so far, excluding 15 people, who died in the flash floods at Amarnath cave shrine on July 1.