Amarnath Yatra suspended amid heavy rain, death of woman pilgrim
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Amarnath Yatra suspended amid heavy rain, death of woman pilgrim")
Amarnath Yatra pilgrims Photograph: (ANI)
A video of the mudslide along the Baltal route has also emerged, showing many pilgrims stranded on the yatra track.
A landslide along the Baltal route of the Amarnath Yatra in Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday (July 16) claimed the life of a woman pilgrim and left three others injured.
All injured were immediately taken to the Baltal base camp hospital where the woman identified as Sona Bai (55), a resident of Rajasthan was declared dead on arrival, said police officials, as reported by PTI.
Meanwhile, heavy rain in the valley has led to the Amarnath Yatra being suspended on Thursday. This is the first time that the yatra was suspended after it began on July 3 from Jammu this year.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and their state counterparts, SDRF, were then immediately deployed to the accident site to evacuate people.
“Due to the continuous rains over the last couple of days, urgent repair and maintenance works are required to be carried out on the tracks," said Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Vijay Kumar Bidhuri.
A video of the mudslide along the Baltal route has also emerged, showing many pilgrims stranded on the yatra track.
However, the authenticity of the clip could not be independently verified by WION.
Earlier accident
Earlier this month, 36 pilgrims, including children travelling to the Amarnath shrine had met with an accident and sustained minor injures when five busses bound for Pahalgam collided with each other at Chanderkote in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ramban district.
The injured pilgrims were taken to the local hospital where Deputy commissioner Ramban Ilyas Khan met them.
According to investigations, the accident was a case of brake failure. The convoy of pilgrims had stopped for breakfast when the last bus hit the four buses.
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"Prima facie, it appeared to be a case of brake failure. After the last bus hit the stationary convoy, it triggered a chain reaction and in the process four buses were hit," said senior superintendent of police (SSP) of Ramban, Kulbir Singh.
Amarnath Yatra
The annual Amarnath Yatra started on Thursday (July 3, 2025), with pilgrims leaving the base camp from the twin base camps at Baltal and Nunwan.
Tight security measures have been implemented to ensure the yatra proceeds safely. Thousands of personnel from the police, CRPF, ITBP, and other paramilitary units have been stationed for protection, with aerial monitoring also planned.
Officials have implemented microchipped RFID smart cards to track pilgrims, as a part of security to curb the threats from Pakistan-backed terror groups.
