Amarnath Yatra suspended due to bad weather

{image-amarnath yatra_20062008.jpg news.oneindia.in}Jammu, Jun 20: The annual pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath, which commenced on Wednesday, has been suspended due to bad weather. According to official sources, pilgrims were not allowed to proceed from the Jammu-base camp due to heavy rains near the cave shrine and along the route. On Thursday, third batch of 3,352 pilgrims left for the shrine from Jammu.

With this batch, a total of 8251pilgrims have left for the shrine. The first batch left June 17. Security forces have been put on a high alert along the entire route of the Amarnath yatra to ensure the safety of the pilgrims. The security setup consists of area domination and setting up of mountain posts by Army, deployments of CRPF and mobile patrolling by armed police. As many as 2,13,007 pilgrims have been registered for the yatra till Thursday.

Every year, a large number of devotees trek the steep, slippery 48-kilometres route to reach the Amarnath cave shrine, which stands at a height of nearly 12,500 feet above sea level.

ANI