Amarnath yatra remains suspended for third day

The Amarnath 'yatra' remained suspended for the third day due to heavy rains and snowfall along the route of the pilgrimage.

The Amarnath 'yatra' remained suspended for the third day on Friday due to heavy rains and snowfall along the route of the pilgrimage.

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"The pilgrimage has been suspended for the third day today as there was snowfall at several places, including six inches at Magahanus top, four inches at Panjtarni, seven inches at the cave and mudslides at Sheshnag and Chandanwari besides heavy rains that has made the route slippery near the cave," Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) spokesperson Madan Mantoo said.

However, snow was cleared on one kilometer stretch from Panjtarni to the cave and some stranded pilgrims at Panjtarni were allowed to proceed towards the shrine, he said.

Unless the weather clears up, no pilgrim will be allowed to proceed further towards the shrine, he said, adding no pilgrims was allowed to leave for Amarnath from Jammu, Pahalgam and Baltal base camps today.

So far 2.14 lakh pilgrims have visited the cave shrine and have had glimpse of ice lingam of Lord Shiva.

The annual pilgrimage had earlier remained suspended from June 11 to June 13 and June 17 due to heavy snowfall and bad weather.

From the city also no batch was allowed to travel to Pahalgam base camp during these three days.