STATE TIMES NEWS
Jammu: The Amarnath yatra resumed amid tight security from the base camp here on Tuesday evening after it was suspended in the morning due to the ongoing unrest in the Kashmir Valley with a fresh batch of 2,591 pilgrims leaving for the cave shrine. “The yatra, which was halted today morning due to the unrest in the valley, was resumed this evening with a fresh batch of 2,591 leaving in over 60 vehicles for the two base camps in the Kashmir valley,” a police officer said.
He said a total of 1789 men, 752 women and 50 sadhus left in the cavalcade from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here for Pahalgam and Baltal base camps.
“The cavalcade left amid tight security cover,” he said.
The yatra was suspended for the third day in the morning in last 10 days following the killing of three persons in security forces firing at Qazingund on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway on Monday.
Violent protests erupted in the Kashmir Valley after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.
The yatra was initially suspended on July 9 and resumed on July 11 amid tight security. It was stopped again stopped on July 14 and restarted on July 16.
Meanwhile, officials said that with the frequent suspension of the yatra from Jammu as a “precautionary measure”, the twin base camps of Baltal and Pahalgam along the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas looked empty.
Pilgrim dies of heart attack, toll rises to 18
SRINAGAR: An Amarnath pilgrim on Tuesday died of cardiac arrest while undergoing treatment at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) here raising the death toll in the ongoing yatra to 18.
Sandeep Singh (18), hailing from Punjab, fell seriously ill at Baltal base camp on July 15 and was rushed to SKIMS, the super speciality tertiary care hospital, here where he died in the morning, officials said.
Singh’s death took the number of pilgrims who died of cardiac arrest during the ongoing Yatra to 14, they said.
