Over 2,500 pilgrims depart the Jammu base camp for Amarnath.

More than 2,500 pilgrims left a Jammu base camp early Friday for the Amarnath temple in the south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said.

More than 4.36 lakh pilgrims have already paid their respects to the naturally created ice lingam at the 3,880-meter-high cave temple, compared to nearly 4.5 lakh last year.

The 29th batch of pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp at 3:20 a.m. in an 84-vehicle convoy led by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), officials said.

While 1,681 pilgrims will go to Pahalgam by the customary 48-kilometre route in Anantnag district, 885 have chosen the shorter but steeper 14-kilometre Baltal route in Ganderbal.

The 52-day annual yatra began publicly on June 29 and will end on August 19.