UK scouts pulled out of camp after S Korea heatwave

BBC News:

UK scouts are leaving an international event in South Korea that has been hit by extreme heat.

Hundreds have fallen ill at the outdoor World Scout Jamboree, which is attended by more than 40,000 young people from around the world, amid 35C (95F) heat.

The British group of more than 4,000, the largest in attendance, is moving from Saemangeum to Seoul, the Scout Association confirmed.

The US and Singaporean teams are also pulling their scouts out of the event.

South Korea’s government said it was sending water and medics to the site.

The jamboree, described as the world’s largest youth camp, gathers scouts from around the world every four years, each time in a different country.

This is the first since the pandemic and is due to run until 12 August.

The British teenagers are being put on buses back to Seoul, and will spend the next week in hotels.

One of the UK team told BBC’s Seoul correspondent Jean Mackenzie the decision to pull out was not based just on the extreme heat, but was also down to the facilities and the food.

They described toilets as a “health risk”, adding children’s dietary needs were not being met.

Many of the parents the BBC has spoken to have said their children spent years preparing to attend the event, often raising thousands of pounds to do so.

Thunderstorms are forecast for the region in which it is taking place, while temperatures will feel hotter than 40C due to high humidity, according to AccuWeather.

The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), the largest international Scouting organisation, said it had asked the Korean Scout Association, which is hosting the event, to consider ending early.

The movement said that the host “decided to go ahead with the event” and assured participants that it was doing “everything possible to address the issues caused by the heatwave”.

The WOSM called on the South Korean government to “honour” its commitments to provide extra resources and make the health and safety of participants its “top priority”.

UK Scouts, the country’s largest scouting organisation, said its group would be moved to hotels over the next two days to “alleviate the pressure on the site overall”.

It added that its volunteers and others had worked to give their members “enough food and water… shelter from the unusually hot weather… and toilets and washing facilities appropriate for an event of this scale.”

The group will travel home on 13 August as planned.

The United States has also decided to withdraw its participants and take them to an army garrison in Pyeongtaek, citing safety concerns.

Parents of children at the campsite told the BBC that no activities were taking place due to the heat, and some people with specific dietary requirements were not being catered for.

Others have defended the event, saying their children were disappointed that they had to leave.