JAMMU: A new batch of 724 pilgrims left Jammu on Monday to perform the ongoing Amarnath Yatra.

They left the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas in an escorted convoy of 19 vehicles that included pilgrims going to both Baltal and Pahalgam base camps, police said.

Since the Yatra began on June 28 -- 2,58,487 pilgrims have paid their obeisance at the holy cave shrine.

Except for the vagaries of weather in which four pilgrims were killed by a landslide, the pilgrimage has proceeded smoothly so far.

Coinciding with the Shravan Purnima festival the Amarnath Yatra will end on August 26.