Thousands of UK and US scouts attending the World Scout Jamboree in South Korea are being removed from the official campsite in the south-western county of Buan amid a suffocating heatwave.
The event, which started this week, has drawn 43,000 young scouts from 158 countries, with the UK contingent the largest at 4,500.
Hundreds of people have needed treatment for heat-related ailments in recent days.
UK Scouts said in a statement on Saturday that young people and adult volunteers had begun arriving in Seoul and were settling into their accommodation.
It said: “As we are the largest contingent, our hope is that this helps alleviate the pressure on the site overall.
“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.”
It said the young people would travel home from 13 August as originally planned.
It added: “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.”
The US contingent will take part in the jamboree programme on Saturday before moving to the US army garrison Camp Humphreys near the jamboree site on the following day.
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An email sent out to parents by the US contingent media team read: “The US contingent to the World Scout Jamboree has made the difficult decision that we will be departing the 25th World Scout Jamboree site early because of ongoing extreme weather and resulting conditions at the jamboree site.”
Scouts from Singapore have also withdrawn from the event.
The world scouting body had asked the South Korean government to end the event early, but it was decided it would continue.
The World Organisation of the Scout Movement said: “We have been informed that the UK contingent has decided to leave the jamboree camp early, allowing the scouts to continue their jamboree experience in Seoul until they are scheduled to travel home.
“The host [the Korean Scout Association] decided to go ahead with the event, assuring that they will do everything possible to address the issues caused by the heatwave by adding additional resources.
“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.”
The jamborees organising committee responded to the UK and US withdrawal by saying: “We recognise their freedom to make decisions as scouts and regret that they could not continue their scouting activities [on site] to the end due to reasons such as a heatwave.”
The US…
2023-08-05 08:44:05
Link from www.theguardian.com
