Srinagar, July 7: Five Amarnath pilgrims, including two Delhiites, died of cardiac arrest en route to Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir, taking the toll in the ongoing yatra to 42, officials said today.
Parveen Kumar (32) and Balbir Singh (70), both residents of Delhi, died at Brarimarg and Baltal this morning, while two other pilgrims from Gujarat - Kila Bahan (52) and Jagdesh Prushotam Dass (77) - died at Baltal last night, they said. Another pilgrim, Anand Botinger (43) of Uttar Pradesh, died at Pissu top near the holy cave while returning to the base camp after offering prayers at the shrine, they said.
Over 2.70 lakh pilgrims has paid obeisance at the 3,880 mt high cave shrine housing naturally formed ice Shivlingam during the annual yatra which commenced on June 25 from the twin tracks of Baltal and Pahalgam.
As many as 2,57,747 pilgrims have visited the cave shrine till last night, the officials said.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 7 Jul 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 7 Jul 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 8 Jul 2012 00:00:00 IST