A group of 10 workers from Jharkhand’s Latehar district, who survived the ravaging flash flood caused by a glacial lake outburst in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, set out on their journey home on Wednesday.

When contacted, one of the workers Rooplal Singh said: “We have lost everything. We are now returning though we are not sure how we will reach home without sufficient money.”

They were travelling in a bus that was about to reach Hardwar, he said at around 3.30pm on Wednesday.

“The contractor under whom we were working at a construction site there gave us some money that will help us reach Hardwar. But how we will complete the rest of the journey is unknown,” Singh said.

He added that they would have to travel in a train without ticket if no help comes from any other source by then.

“We have informed about our condition to the control room run by the Jharkhand government but no help has reached us so far,” he said.

They were outside when the tragedy struck on Sunday, he said, adding that they started running towards a hill when people started shouting “bhago, bhago (run, run)”, and were thus saved.

“Later we found everything we had, including our IDs, had been washed away,” Singh said, adding that they were wearing the same clothes since the flash flood struck on Sunday.

They spent two days at a temporary shelter where they were also offered food, Singh further said, adding that they left for home when the contractor gave them some money.

“The contractor said he couldn’t arrange anything more for us and advised us to get some money from home,” he said. Our families are also not in a position to help us with money, he added.

Asked how they could reach home without enough money, Singh said: “There is no alternative left but to travel in a train without ticket and face whatever comes our way.”

Singh and nine other workers from Bariatu panchayat area of Latehar district had gone to work at a construction site at Tapovan village in Chamoli.

While the 10 survived, 14 other workers from the state — nine from Lohardaga, four from Ramgarh and one from Bokaro — are still missing.

Besides, contact was also lost with a group of six tourists from Jamtara district that reached Mussourie on Sunday.