SRINAGAR, June 30: Fourteen pilgrims on their way to Amarnath, a cave shrine deep in Himalayas, died in south Kashmir as the number of devotees paying obeisance at the temple crossed the one lakh mark, police said.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims trek through treacherous mountains in Kashmir, along icy streams, glacier-fed lakes and frozen passes to reach the Amarnath cave located at an altitude of 3,800 metres (12,700 feet).
Forty-year-old Rekha, a resident of Gujarat, died of cardiac arrest at the shrine last night, officials said.
Hailing from Haryana, Jagbir Singh, 64, died of a massive heart attack at Panjtarni on traditional Phalgam route yesterday, they added.
With this, the death toll since the commencement of the annual pilgrimage rose to 14, the officials said.
The pilgrimage, one of the holiest for Hindus, began on June 25 from twin tracks of Baltal in Ganderbal district and Pahalgam in Anantnag, and as many as 1,16,403 pilgrims have so far offered prayers at the shrine.
The pilgrimage is going on smoothly from both the routes, the officials said.
In Jammu, a fresh batch of 3,348 pilgrims left for the cave shrine early Saturday morning.
The devotees, including 922 women, 79 children and 148 sadhus or half-naked holymen, left in a cavalcade of 122 vehicles from Bhagwati Nagar base camp at around 0500 hours.
