Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off the first batch of pilgrims for the annual Amarnath Yatra from the Bhagwati Nagar camp here on Friday.

Amid multi-layer security, the first batch of more than 3,400 pilgrims left for the twin base camps in Kashmir to undertake the pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine of Lord Shiva in the south Kashmir Himalayas.

The 62-day-long pilgrimage will commence from Kashmir on Saturday on the twin tracks of the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in Anantnag district and the 14-km shorter but steep Baltal route in Ganderbal district.

In the meantime, an Amarnath Yatra security convoy vehicle met with an accident in Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir on Friday morning, leaving four people including a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) injured, the police said.

The incident took place when the Amarnath Yatra security convoy vehicle fell into a drain along the sides of the road on the Jammu-Srinagar highway, near Bali Nallah in Udhampur, officials said.

According to the Senior Superintendant of Police, Vinod Kumar, four people were injured in the accident, and have been shifted to Udhampur District Hospital for treatment. Among those injured also includes a deputy superintendent of police, SSP Kumar said.