EXCLUSIVE – World Scout Jamboree HELL: Volunteers ‘incandescent at lack of leadership’ amid demands to cancel event as US pulls out completely and 4,500 British children are evacuated to hotels as heatwave hits 100F in South Korea

• EXCLUSIVE: 4,500 British scouts being taken from campsite to hotels in Seoul
• The scout’s world organisation has called for the whole festival to be shelved
• Are YOU involved with the jamboree? Email [email protected] 

MailOnline can reveal today how volunteers have been left ‘incandescent at the lack of leadership’ amid the chaos at the World Scout Jamboree which has seen hundreds treated for heat-related illnesses and forced the US and UK to pull children out. 

Organisers – who have been heavily criticised for poor preparation – are now facing demands to cancel the event as South Korea battles with a blistering heatwave, where temperatures have soared to 100F. 

The 4,500-strong UK contingent, the largest at the jamboree, announced yesterday that they would evacuate children to hotels in Seoul for the rest of their stay, to alleviate pressure on the site which has been blasted over food shortages, a lack of shade and complaints being censored.

The US is now pulling out 1,500 children in a fresh blow to the organisers and the South Korean government, which on Friday promised more water trucks, air-conditioned spaces and medics in a desperate attempt to save the event which runs until August 12.

The World Organisation of the Scout Movement today called for the 25th World Scout Jamboree to be shelved in its entirety and asked South Korean organisers to ‘consider alternative options to end the event earlier than scheduled and support the participants until they depart for their home countries.’ 

But the South Korean government conducted spot inspections on Saturday and found conditions were no longer as dire as has been claimed, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said, adding that after discussions with participating countries, ‘we decided to continue the event without stopping.’ 

Former jamboree leaders and volunteers have blasted the UK contingent for censoring youngsters and leaders from exposing ‘the true scale of the mess’, while one parent said their child thought ‘they were going to die’ amid the blistering heat. 

A volunteer, who wished to remain anonymous, told MailOnline today: ‘I am absolutely incandescent with the lack of leadership at the very top.’ She added that the chaos was being masked by leaders – and several volunteers believe that ‘had the true position come to light earlier, the situation may have been much better’.

British scout members ride an escalator as they arrive from the World Scout Jamboree camp site at a hotel on Saturday

Gareth Weir, center, British Deputy Ambassador to South Korea, greets scout members from the UK contingent

More than 600 participants at the 25th World Scout Jamboree were struck down by a heatwave in South Korea, forcing UK and US contingents to pull members out 

Scouts UK said it was ‘unaware’ of any form of censoring going on. 

Temperatures have hit 35C (95F) in Saemangeum, near the city of Buan on South Korea’s west coast, where 43,000 participants were camping as of Friday. Other parts of South Korea have topped 38C (100.4F), forcing the government to issue the highest heat warning in four years.

Among those in attendance is adventurer Bear Grylls – the UK’s chief scout since 2009 – who was filmed dripping in sweat as he delivered a speech at the opening ceremony. He had urged people to remain calm before the UK pulled members out. 

READ MORE: They WEREN’T prepared! British children are evacuated from World Scout Jamboree in South Korea 

Today, thousands of British children, aged 14 to 17, were pictured packing their bags at the campsite. The first wave of children arrived at hotels in Seoul – where they were met by Gareth Weir – the British Deputy Ambassador to South Korea. British scouts will continue to evacuate to hotels across the weekend.

On Saturday the UK Scout Association, which is the largest contingent at the Jamboree, said young people and adult volunteers have begun arriving in Seoul and are ‘settling into their accommodation.’

It said in a statement: ‘Coaches of our young people and volunteers have already starting safely arriving in Seoul. They are settling into their accommodation.

‘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.

‘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.’

Pictures shared with MailOnline show how tents have been raised onto platforms due to flooding

A female participant sits on the floor as scouts queue to get into a souvenir shop amid the blistering heat on Friday

A participant receives medical treatment at Jamboree Hospital during the 25th World Scout Jamboree in Buan, South Korea, August 4

Hundreds of scouts were struck down as the heatwave grips South Korea, causing many to suffer from heat exhaustion

A participant is carried on a stretcher at Jamboree Hospital during the 25th World Scout Jamboree

Adventurer and TV presenter Bear Grylls, who is the UK chief scout, had called for people to remain calm on Friday

The US contingent will take part in a jamboree programme on Saturday before moving to US Army Garrison Humphreys near the jamboree site on Sunday, according to an email reviewed by Reuters. 

READ MORE: ‘Nightmare’ at the World Scout Jamboree: Leader slams organisation of festival where 600 were struck down by heatwave 

‘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,’ said the email sent to parents by the U.S. group’s media team. 

Singaporean scouts were also planning to leave and Belgian officials were looking for alternative accommodation.

But Swedish and German scout groups said they were staying, saying that conditions at the vast campsite were ‘moving in the right direction’ after a ‘major resources boost’ from the South Korean government.

‘For the 1,500 Swedish young people we have here, the Jamboree is a unique experience. You only have one chance in your life to join a Jamboree as a participant,’ the Swedish scout group said in a statement.

‘To stop participation is to deprive the young people of that chance,’ it said.

Hit by extreme heat, hundreds of participants at the event fell ill and were treated for heat-related ailments, prompting complaints from parents over the safety of their children. 

More than 150 countries were taking part in the gathering as of Friday, according to officials.  

On Friday, a former jamboree leader accused the UK contingent leaders of telling staff not to share any images of anything bad going on – something he described as ‘diabolical’. 

While some parents insisted their children are still having a good time, others have told how it is is ‘alarming how quickly order broke down’ and that their children feel like ‘they are going to die’.

Speaking to MailOnline, the former world jamboree leader said that people who he knows over there ‘have had an absolute nightmare’. He added: ‘They haven’t had enough hospital facilities for the amount of young people. They’ve had to get get more doctors in. They have had to put more medical tents up.’

South Korea’s Prime Minister Han Duck-soo (L) talks with attendees of the 25th World Scout Jamboree during a visit to a campsite on Saturday

Participants from UK prepare to leave the 25th World Scout Jamboree in Buan, South Korea, on Saturday

Participants take shelter from the strong sunlight at the camping site for the 25th World Scout Jamboree in Buan, South Korea, August 4

The source continued: ‘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. 

‘It should have been pre-empted especially with the heatwave they’ve got. I was going to go but decided not to go. In some ways, I’m glad I did but in other ways, I wish I was there to help.’

The source also said that ‘there’s not enough food and water’, adding: ‘Lunch for most of them is a sweet of some sort, nothing savoury. The food options have been really bad. It’s all been sweet options… none of them can read the packaging, if you have food allergies, that’s sort of thrown out the window.’ 

He went on to blast this year’s ‘upsetting’ scenes, contrasting it to his own experience as a leader in America four years ago where there was ‘more cover, more water, more food, more everything’.

‘I think it’s the disorganisation, the lack of communication and the masking of images and details going out,’ he added. ‘The UK contingent has asked leaders and international service teams not to post pictures reflecting bad what’s going on. That to me is diabolical. It’s the public-facing ‘look how brilliant it is’, and privately, it’s ‘look how c**p it is’.’

In a bid to calm things down yesterday, Grylls posted a clip of his rousing speech at the opening ceremony on Instagram with the caption: ‘It’s super hot in Korea. To all @Scouts there, remember the mantra: Shade & hydrate act early if struggling buddy buddy always.’

Grylls became the UK’s youngest ever chief scout when he was appointed at the age of 34. He described it as ‘one of the proudest moments of my life’. In 2018, Grylls also became the first ever Chief Ambassador of World Scouting – which involves promoting scouts to an international audience. 

While some parents insisted their children are still having a good time, others have told how it is is ‘alarming how quickly order broke down’ and that their children feel like ‘they are going to die’.

Attendees of the World Scout Jamboree cool off with water at a scout camping site in Buan, South Korea, on Friday

Despite Grylls’ call for calmness, when an emergency alert was sent out on the jamboree’s app, parents could not help but panic. One British parent told The Telegraph: ‘We now have kids crying, thinking they are going to die.’

Parents also complained that their children were stuck outside in the early hours of the morning in a ‘mosquito-infested field’ with no tents, dirty toilets and limited food. 

Thousands of pink, yellow and green tents stretched across the giant campsite on Saturday as residents flocked to the area eager to help the scouts in the heat.

‘The weather is too hot, so I came here with my kids to give out iced water,’ business owner Han Tae-min told AFP from near the jamboree welcome centre, as he pressed cold water on passing scouts.

‘I was also a scout when I was young,’ the 33-year-old said, adding he was eager to help because ‘it is exceptionally hot this year, and the event is taking place in this extreme heat’.

Despite the government’s efforts, some parents continued to criticise organisers, with one Korean-American mother, whose 15-year-old daughter lost consciousness during the event, saying it took a ‘terrifying’ 45 minutes for an ambulance to arrive.

‘How can South Korea allow children to be neglected like this?’ she told South Korean broadcaster SBS.

The Jamboree’s official Instagram page was flooded with critical comments, with one set of parents saying the event had been ‘a horrible experience’ for the scouts.

A British scout at the event posted footage from the site on a YouTube channel called ‘Jamboree Jamie’, sharing a video of what looked like mosquitos flying constantly in rudimentary shower booths.

‘It’s too hot, it’s too hot. Anyway, this is my third bottle of water,’ he says in the video, adding he agreed, in part, that the event had been ‘poorly organised’.

At least 108 people have been treated for heat-related illnesses, most of whom have recovered, it was reported on Thursday. 

South Korea this week raised its hot weather warning to the highest ‘serious’ level for the first time in 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.’

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