Amarnath Yatra suspended from Jammu as inclement weather persists

The Amarnath Yatra has been suspended from Jammu due to inclement weather conditions and no fresh batch was allowed to proceed from here 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 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 told PTI.

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.

Over one lakh pilgrims have offered prayers at the cave shrine, housing the naturally formed ice 'shivling', the officials said.

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.

The yatra is scheduled to end on August 11 on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.