A mother has spoken out about the “unbearable” conditions her son experienced at the World Scout Jamboree campsite in South Korea, after temperatures reached 35C (95F) and organisers refused to end the event early.
The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said her 16-year-old son had been removed from the site by the UK Scout Association on Saturday because of the heatwave and was sleeping on the floor of a “cramped” hotel room near Seoul airport with three other scouts.
On Tuesday, more than 40,000 scouts from all over the world gathered to camp near the south-western town of Buan for the 12-day event, which is being hosted this year by the South Korean government. By Thursday, 700 people had sought treatment for heat-related illnesses.
“My son said that it was a shambles,” the woman said. “The scout motto is ‘be prepared’, but the South Korean government wasn’t.”
She added: “I know the heat is not the government’s fault, but perhaps there could have been some planning for the heat … I think they were preparing for rains, not a heatwave.”
She said the first thing her son’s unit did when they arrived in Seoul was to go to a pharmacy to get anti-bite cream. “The jamboree site is on reclaimed land and lots of kids are covered in bites.”
Her son was exhausted after spending several nights camping in extreme temperatures. “The conditions were unbearable, really,” she said, adding that she understood some of the toilets were “filthy” and that it was very hot on the campsite, with limited shade available. “On the phone, he sounded exhausted with the heat.”
Activities requiring physical effort were cancelled, leaving her son with little to do. “He said he dug a hole yesterday because he was so bored.”
She said she had been waking up at 4am, worrying about him, and that they were both relieved when they found out he was to be moved from the campsite along with 4,500 other British scouts between 14 and 17 years of age.
However, she said there were not enough beds in the hotel where he was staying to accommodate all the scouts who needed to stay there.
She said she was hoping he would not have to sleep on a hotel floor for the next 10 days, but that she had not yet been informed whether any other accommodation would be found for his unit.
However, she did not think the experience would put him off going to scouts. “It’s in his blood. And while the South Korean government probably should have organised this better, the UK Scouts have got them out.”
The Boy Scouts of America organisation has said it will move 1,100 US scouts to the US military base Camp Humphreys near Seoul on Sunday.
The world scouting body said it had asked the Korean Scout Association and the South Korean government to end the event early, but that they had decided it should continue and were planning to provide additional resources.
The organisation said: “We continue to call on the host and the Korean government to honour their commitments to mobilise additional financial and human resources, and to make the health and safety of the participants their top priority.”
Organisers have brought more emergency vehicles, medical staff and air conditioning to the site.
The UK Scout Association said young people and adult volunteers had begun arriving in Seoul and were “settling into their accommodation”.
“As we are the largest contingent, our hope is that this helps alleviate the pressure on the site overall,” the association said. “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 13 August.
“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.”
Scouts from 158 countries are attending the jamboree, which is hosted by a different country every four years.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We understand that a decision has been taken by Scouts UK to relocate British scouts from the World Scout Jamboree at Saemangeum to Seoul.
“The embassy remains in close contact with Scouts UK and will continue to provide support where required.”
