Srinagar: Nearly 15,000 people paid obeisance on Sunday at the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas on the second day of the annual pilgrimage, according to officials.
The total number of pilgrims who visited the cave shrine in the first two days has now crossed 28,000.
“As many as 14,717 pilgrims had darshan of the ice lingam in the Amarnath cave on Sunday,” the officials said here.
They said 9,979 male pilgrims and 3,439 female pilgrims were among those who paid obeisance at the cave shrine.
Over 1,000 security personnel, 83 children and two transgenders also performed the pilgrimage.
The Yatra started on Saturday from the twin tracks — the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in Anantnag and the 14-km shorter but steeper Baltal route in Ganderbal.
The 52-day pilgrimage will conclude on August 19.
More than 4.5 lakh pilgrims paid obeisance at the cave shrine last year.
Meanwhile, a third batch of 6,619 pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu in two separate convoys early Sunday morning to join the annual Amarnath pilgrimage, officials said.
The third batch, including 1,141 women, left in 319 vehicles between 3:50 am and 4:45 am amid tight security.
It was raining in Jammu when the pilgrims left for Kashmir, the officials said, adding that 3,838 devotees opted for the Pahalgam route while 2,781 were heading for Baltal to perform the Yatra.
With this, a total of 13,103 pilgrims left the Jammu base camp for the Valley since June 28 when Lt Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off the first batch.
