SRINAGAR: A record 8,815 pilgrims departed from the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas in Jammu on Tuesday in the sixth batch of the annual Shri Amarnath Ji Yatra, marking the highest single-day departure of the 2026 pilgrimage so far.
Officials said the pilgrims left for the twin base camps at Baltal and Pahalgam under multi-layered security arrangements in a convoy of 363 vehicles.
Of the total, 3,989 pilgrims travelling in 181 vehicles departed for the Baltal route at 3.35 am, while 4,826 pilgrims in 182 vehicles left for the traditional Pahalgam route at 4.08 am.
The sixth batch comprised 5,831 men, 2,193 women, 30 children, 598 sadhus, 131 sadhvis, one child sadhu and 31 foreign male pilgrims.
According to officials, the convoy included 172 buses, 58 medium motor vehicles (MMVs), 130 light motor vehicles (LMVs) and three two-wheelers. Officials said more than 86,000 devotees had paid obeisance at the holy Amarnath cave shrine during the first four days of the Yatra.
The 57-day Shri Amarnath Ji Yatra commenced on July 3 and is scheduled to conclude on August 28. The pilgrimage leads devotees to the cave shrine, situated at an altitude of about 3,888 metres in the south Kashmir Himalayas, where the naturally formed ice stalagmite is revered as the holy Shivling.
