Srinagar, Aug 11: Over 1,000 Amarnath pilgrims were stranded today at Batote on Jammu-Srinagar Highway due to landslides as one more devotee died of heart failure raising the toll due to natural causes in the current pilgrimage to 18. As many as 1029 devotees, who left here this morning for the Amarnath cave shrine, were stranded at Batote due to landslides and mudslides triggered by heavy overnight rains, official sources said.
The landslides occurred between Ramban and Ramsu on Jammu-Kashmir National Highway, they said.
One more pilgrim on way to the holy cave shrine died of heart failure last night. Sadhu Sawtan Singh, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, died on Pahalgam-cave route, the sources said.
Nearly 97,000 pilgrims had offered prayers at the shrine till yesterday evening. A fresh batch of 1256 devotees arrived overnight in Pahalgam from Jammu.
Bureau Report