Jammu, July 1, 2013: Over 37,000 pilgrims have paid obeisance at the cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas in the last four days even as the fifth batch of 2,168 devotees left for their journey here on Monday. 

Of these, 35,627 pilgrims paid obeisance of the holy ice-lingam at the cave shrine till last evening, while over 1,600 had darshan this morning. 

Besides, 1,044 pilgrims flew in choppers to the cave shrine. 

Meanwhile, a convoy of 80 vehicles carrying 2,168 pilgrims left from Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu at around 5.35 AM for twin base camps of Pahalagam and Baltal Kashmir, police said here today. 

The batch included 1,525 men, 460 women and 35 children, apart from 148 priests, they said. 

With today's batch, a total of 9,974 pilgrims have left Jammu base camp for Amarnath so far. 

Besides, a fresh batch of 6,381 pilgrims left Baltal camp for Amarnath today. 

Source: India News, DT. July 1, 2013.