Amarnath Yatra: Over 40,000 pilgrims visit holy cave shrine so far; 5 dead

Five pilgrims have died since the commencement of the Amarnath Yatra this year, even as over 40,000 devotees have so far visited the holy cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said on Sunday.

A pilgrim by the name Virinder Gupta is missing from the yatra’s Chandanwari-Sheshnag route, they said.

Of the five deceased, three passed away due to cardiac arrests: Jai Prakash from Delhi died at Chandanwari, Devender Tayal (53) from Bareily collapsed at Lower Cave and Lipo Sharma (40) from Bihar died at Qazigund camp, the officials said.

Jagannath (61) from Maharashtra lost his life due to some health condition at Pisutop while another person Ashu Singh (46) from Rajasthan died after he fell down from a horse at MG top, they mentioned.

Till 10 am on Sunday, 40,233 pilgrims visited the holy cave shrine and had ‘darshan’ of the naturally formed ice-shivlingam.

The yatra, which began on June 30 and will culminate on August 11, passes through two routes – the Pahalgam route in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district and the Baltal route in Sonamarg tourist resort in Ganderbal district in central Kashmir.