As soon as the skies cleared around the cave shrine, the authorities opened the gates and allowed the stranded devotees to offer prayers at the naturally formed ice-lingam in south Kashmir Himalayas

"Those devotees who had already performed 'darshan' have been allowed to return to Baltal base camp," a senior official at the Panjtarni base camp told PTI over phone.

Meanwhile, the Army has sheltered more than 700 Amarnath pilgrims at its camp in Qazigund in Anantnag district after they were stranded due to heavy rainfall in the valley.

Earlier, the annual Amarnath Yatra has been suspended for the third consecutive day on Sunday due to bad weather conditions in Jammu and Kashmir.

At least 80 people from Karnataka were trapped in the Panchtarni, six km away from the Amarnath cave following the adverse weather conditions, said the Karnataka government on Saturday.