Mussoorie, Oct. 24 -- The Char Dham yatra has crossed the five million pilgrim mark on Thursday. According to state tourism department officials, the total number of pilgrims visiting the four Himalayan shrines -Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri -along with Hemkund Sahib and Gaumukh, touched over 5 million on Thursday. As per official data, the pilgrim numbers recorded till Wednesday evening stood at 49,77,995. On Thursday, with an additional 10,000 pilgrims arriving, the total crossed the mark. Kedarnath recorded the highest footfall with 17,57,380 pilgrims, followed by Badrinath (15,32,727), Gangotri (7,58,249), and Yamunotri (6,44,505). The numbers reflect a strong rebound from last year, when 4.8 million pilgrims undertook the journey, though still slightly lower than the record 5.6 million visitors in 2023. Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, while attending the closure ceremony of Kedarnath's portals on Thursday, confirmed the milestone. "This year, more than 5 million pilgrims have visited the Char Dham shrines," he said. Hemant Dwivedi, president of the Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC), said Kedarnath alone witnessed a record 17,68,795 devotees this season, 1.25 lakh more than last year's tally of 16,52,076....