More than 4,000 British Scouts will leave the World Scout Jamboree at a campsite in South Korea and move into hotels this weekend, the U.K. Scout Association said Friday, as concerns grow after more than 100 participants were treated for heat-related ailments.
The pullout of the Jamboree’s largest national contingent was announced hours after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol promised an “unlimited supply” of air-conditioned buses and refrigerator trucks to provide chilled water to the site in the southwestern town of Buan. South Korea has been grappling with one of its hottest summers in years during the event, which started Wednesday.
“We will start moving our people to hotel accommodation over the next two days. As we are the largest contingent, our hope is that this helps alleviate the pressure on the site overall,” the U.K. Scout Association said in a statement.
“We will continue the Jamboree experience in Seoul, working with Korean authorities on a program of activities so our young people still get the most from their time in Korea.”
About 40,000 scouts, mostly teenagers, from 158 countries are participating in the Jamboree at a campsite built on land reclaimed from the sea. About 4,500 are from the U.K.
Organizers on Thursday said at least 108 people had been treated for heat-related illnesses.
Long before the start of the event, critics had raised concerns about bringing that many young people to a vast, treeless area lacking protection from the summer heat.
South Korea this week raised its hot weather warning to the highest “serious” level for the first time in four years, and temperatures around the country hovered between 35 and 38 degrees Celsius (95 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit) on Friday. According to South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety, at least 19 people have died from heat-related illnesses across the country since May 20.
The Jamboree’s organizers and South Korean government officials have been scrambling to continue the event, canceling activities requiring hard physical effort and bringing more emergency vehicles, medical staff and air conditioning to the site.
The Foreign Ministry formed a special taskforce on Friday to address concerns raised by foreign diplomatic offices over the safety of the event.
© Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
3 Comments
Login to comment
Legrande
Yet another well-planned project by the Yoon administration.
Legrande
And additional information:
[ Since the first official day of the event on Aug. 1, more than 1,000 people have reported heat-related illnesses due to the high temperatures and humidity of the venue, built on reclaimed land lacking any natural shade or cooling systems while the daytime temperatures were hovering between 33 degrees Celsius and 38 degrees Celsius.
Also, concerns are mounting over sanitation at the campground due to a lack of proper drainage systems. Online communities are filled with posts about toilets being out of order, difficulty setting up tents on the loose ground, food quality and swarms of mosquitoes and other bugs.
President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is on summer vacation, ordered the government to provide an "unlimited supply of ice water and air-conditioned buses" and "improve the quality of the food." ]
njca4
Gonna have to stop holding these events in hot summers - it's only gonna get worse from here on in, too.