British children attending the World Scout Jamboree in South Korea have been pulled from the gathering after hundreds of young people were treated for heat-related illnesses during scorching weather.
Temperatures have soared to 35C at the campsite near the southwestern town of Buan this week, where more than 40,000 scouts from around the world have gathered. So far, more than 600 people have been treated for heat-related illnesses.
Having saved up for years to attend the event, a member of the UK Scout’s International Service Team called his father in tears after being informed of the UK contingency’s decision to leave the site.
The father of the 18-year-old attendee told The Independent his son was “shocked and disappointed” at the jamboree’s poor infrastructure; citing poor sanitary conditions, a lack of drinking water and having to build their tents on pallets above swathes of mud.
“The problem was the choice of the location in the first place. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered,” he added.
The UK Scout Association, which is the largest contingent there with more than 4,000 taking part, said young people and adult volunteers will be moved to hotel accommodation in Seoul, the country’s capital, over the next two days to help “alleviate the pressure” on the site.
Participants for the 25th World Scout Jamboree arrive at a camping site in Buan— (Reuters)
So far it is only the UK contingent who have left the site and parents of British children have expressed their concerns about the situation.
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One father with a child in attendance, writing on Twitter, called the camp a “disaster zone.”
“My son was one of the first to arrive on the site last weekend and it was a disaster zone,” he said. “Thankfully things are improving but, seriously, why plan to ship thousands of teenagers to a hot zone?”
Another worried parent told The Telegraph: “Right now, I’m frightened for my child. Many of us don’t know what to do.”
Attendees of the World Scout Jamboree beat the heat under a vine tunnel at a campsite in Buan— (Yonhap)
But another father disagreed with UK Scout’s decision to leave the site.
“Absolutely gutted,” he tweeted. “My daughter has been so excited for 2 years to have a once in a lifetime experience at the World Scout Jamboree. Two days in and all the UK contingent are being taken back to Seoul due to conditions on site. Missing the whole multinational experience.”
On Monday, the President of South Korea ordered an “unlimited supply” of air-conditioned buses and refrigerator trucks to the campsite.
An unnamed source told Mail Online: “It shouldn’t have got to the point of 600 young people collapsing in one evening for the president to turn around and say, ‘We will get you more vehicles.’”
Temperatures have soared into the high 30s— (Yonhap)
The Scout Jamboree usually takes place across July and August every four years and has housed thousands of scouts in different locations around the world. The last edition was in the US in 2019.
This is the first time the event has been held since the pandemic with scouts attending from 155 different countries.
A staff member called the decision to hold the event in the middle of the South Korean summer a “huge mistake”.
On Thursday, the unnamed worker wrote on Reddit: “I’m currently on the site right now. It’s horrible. I have heat rash and prickly heat, and it’s killing me. What’s worse is there’s nowhere I can go to get out of the heat.”
An ambulance arrives at the site in South Korea— (AP)
The Scout Association said in a statement: “We know that may be a disappointment for some and we will continue the Jamboree experience in Seoul, working with Korean authorities on a programme of activities so our young people still get the most from their time in Korea.”
“Young people will travel home as originally planned from August 13. While we have been on site at the Jamboree, the UK volunteer team has worked extremely hard with the organisers, for our youth members and adult volunteers to have enough food and water to sustain them, shelter from the unusually hot weather, and toilets and washing facilities appropriate for an event of this scale.”
