Jammu

Another batch of over 3,000 devotees left Jammu base camp on Tuesday for 3880-metre cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir amid multi-tier security arrangements, officials said.

More than 4.27 lakh pilgrims have offered prayers at the shrine of Lord Shiva.

The 21st batch of pilgrims with 3029 people left Bhagwati Nagar base-camp here for Baltal in 151 vehicles around 2.45 am, they said.

The devotees include 2,310 men, 590 women, 14 children, 45 sadhus, 40 sadhvis and 30 foreign pilgrims.

With departure of Tuesday's batch, the total number of pilgrims who have left the Jammu base camp for the annual pilgrimage has risen to 1,30,355, officials said.

No pilgrims travelled via the Pahalgam route as yatra has been suspended due to repair of track, they said.

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The 57-day annual pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine is scheduled to conclude on August 28.

The yatra resumed on July 25, after remaining suspended for six days from July 19 to July 24 due to the inclement weather forecast by Indian Metrological Department (IMD).