Jammu: The 28th batch of 1602 yatris on Thursday left Jammu for the 3880-metre high cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir, officials said.
They left the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas here in a convoy of 55 vehicles amid heavy security of CRPF Thursday morning, the officials said.
First to leave were 596 yatris, heading for Baltal, in 21 vehicles followed by the second convoy of 34 vehicles carrying 1006 yatris for Pahalgam, they said.
The number of yatris visiting the cave shrine has drastically fallen in the past three days mostly due to bad weather conditions, the officials said.
A total of 36 persons, mostly yatris died during the ongoing yatra to date, excluding 15 yatris, who died in the flash floods at Amarnath cave shrine on July 1.