Amarnath yatra suspended after cloudburst and bad weather
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After the cloudburst and flash flood killed at least 16 people, the Amarnath Yatra has been suspended due to bad weather. Officials said no fresh batch will be allowed to proceed from Jammu to the twin base camps of the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine.
The flash food that took place on Friday afternoon, caused panic and around 40 people are still missing.
The 43-day pilgrimage starts from twin base camp Nunwan-Pahalgam in south Kashmir's Anantnag and Baltal in central Kashmir's Ganderbal. It was scheduled to end on August 11 on Raksha Bandhan.
After a two-year hiatus owing to the pandemic, the pilgrimage resumed on June 30 this year. Since June 29, a total of 69,535 pilgrims have left in 10 batches from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu for the Valley.
Over one lakh pilgrims have offered prayers at the cave shrine, housing the naturally formed ice 'shivling', officials told PTI.
The videos of the flash flood after the cloudburst showed water rushing toward the tents. The flood washed away the area in moments. Three community kitchens were also lost. NDRF, SDRF, ITBP, Indian Army, CRPF, and J&K Police are on the rescue mission with the Anantnag district administration. The casualties are likely to increase.
This is the biggest weather-related disaster hitting the pilgrimage since 1996. Back then, over 200 pilgrims lost their lives.