Amarnath Yatra resumes after brief break

The Amarnath yatra was suspended for a few hours on Friday due to heavy rains near the Himalayan cave shrine, but resumed later with the weather clearing and the route being declared safe.

Amarnath Yatra: Pilgrims' Progress

The tracks to the 12,750-ft-high cave shrine had became slippery after a downpour in the morning which forced the suspension of the annual yatra and left thousands of pilgrims stranded at various points, officials said.

Officials said with improvement in the weather, the pilgrims were later allowed to move on the traditional 46-km Pahalgam and shorter 12-km Baltal routes. They said the sun had come out in the afternoon and the yatra progressed smoothly after remaining suspended for a few hours.

Pilgrims also headed for the cave shrine from Baltal and Nunwan base camps, but no fresh batch was allowed out of the Jammu base camp, the officials said.

Nearly 65,000 pilgrims have paid obeisance to the ice lingam of Lord Shiva at the cave shrine in Pahalgam district
of Jammu and Kashmir since the two-month yatra began on Wednesday.