JOIN USThe number of visitors at the 3,880 metre high holy cave shrine of Amarnath in the south Kashmir Himalayas has crossed the one lakh mark in the first nine days of the pilgrim season.
An official spokesperson said that more than 13000 pilgrims offered prayers at the cave shrine situated at an altitude of 14,000 feet in deep Himalayas on Saturday.
With this, the total pilgrims who have had darshan at the holy cave in the last nine days of the yatra has touched 1.15 lakh. The spokesperson said majority of these yatris had left home, while those who had darshan on Saturday started their return journey from shorter Baltal and traditional Panjtarni and Sheshnag tracks.
The weather on Nunwan to holy cave as well as Baltal to holy cave was pleasant during the day, the spokesman said, adding that the sky was however cloudy at the cave shrine.
He said three pilgrims have died on their way to the cave in the last three days. They were identified as 50 year old Krishan Kunji of Gujarat and 51 year old Ashwani Bahi Patil of Ratlam Madhya Pradesh.
He said Krishan Kunji suffered a cardiac arrest on Friday evening at Bhawan and was admitted in a medical aid centre where he died. His body was handed over to his relatives after completion of formalities. Ashwani Bhai also died of heart attack between Chandanwari and Sheshnag late Thursday night.
Satinder Soni, a resident of Ludhiana in Punjab, breathed his last at Brarimarg while returning to Baltal base camp from the cave shrine last evening. He died of cardiac arrest after paying obeisance at the holy cave shrine, he added.
The 55-day yatra commenced from the twin routes of Pahalgam in Anantnag district and Baltal in Ganderbal district on June 28 and so far over 1.15 lakh pilgrims had visited the cave shrine housing the naturally formed ice stalagmite known as “Shivlingam."