A batch of 5,382 Amarnath pilgrims left Jammu on Wednesday for the cave shrine in the Kashmir Valley although authorities have suspended the yatra due to bad weather again.
According to the police, the yatra was suspended from both the Baltal and Pahalgam base camps in the valley due to rains and slippery road conditions.
"However, 5,382 yatris left Jammu's Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas earlier today. Of these, 2,030 pilgrims left for Pahalgam while 1,678 left for Baltal. They were led by an escorted convoy of 139 vehicles," police sources said.
So far, 54,833 pilgrims have performed this year's pilgrimage that started on June 28.
Five people were killed and three others suffered injures in a landslide on the Baltal route of the Amarnath Yatra in Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday night, police said.
"A landslide hit between Railpatri and Brarimarg on the Baltal route," a police official said.
He said five people—four men and a woman—were killed, while three others were injured.
He said the identities of the deceased and the injured were yet to be ascertained and the bodies were being brought to the Baltal base hospital.
Police and other security forces and rescue agencies were on the job, the official said, adding medical response teams were fully alert.
Earlier, a minor flash flood hit the car parking of the Baltal base camp, but there were no casualties.
"A minor flash flood at Baltal (in central Kashmir's Ganderbal district) car parking. Men and machinery on job for dredging and creating additional flood channels. Camp area absolutely safe. Irrigation and Flood control Deptt (department) machinery alert. Small vehicles being shifted to Truck yard at Sonmarg," the police had said on Twitter.
They said State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) team is at the spot along with police.
As many as 18,467 pilgrims paid obeisance at the cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir hills on Tuesday, an official spokesperson said.
He said till date 54,833 yatris have paid obeisance at the Amarnath cave shrine.
The yatra, which began on June 28, was hampered for the first few days because of bad weather.
