World Scout Jamboree: Children affected by heatwave in South Korea
- Published
Scouts from the UK attending the World Scout Jamboree in South Korea are going to be leaving the event after a heatwave has affected children there.
It's after temperatures reached 35C in Buan - a county in North Jeolla province - where the event is being held.
Hundreds of cases of heat exhaustion were reported on the first night of the event and scouts from all over the world have been affected.
UK Scouts, the country's largest scouting association, has confirmed the British group of more than 4,000 children will be moving to hotels.
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 South Korean government said it was sending water and medics to the site.
The event has been described as the world's biggest youth camp
Heat exhaustion can happen when you get too hot and can be a serious condition if it's not treated and turns into heatstroke.
It can make you feel dizzy, sick, weak and sweaty.
If someone is showing signs of heat exhaustion, they need to be cooled down and rehydrated which should make them feel better within 30 minutes.
Attendees of the 25th World Scout Jamboree arrive at a scout camping site in Buan, South Korea on 1 August 2023
According to the UK Foreign Office, the situation is being closely monitored.
It said: "We are in regular contact with both Scouts UK and the relevant Korean authorities to ensure the safety of British nationals."
It's believed most of the scouts who needed medical attention had mild symptoms and most have returned back to their campsites.
Parts of South Korea have been struggling with an unusually hot summer.
Earlier this week, authorities in the capital, Seoul, raised its hot weather warning to the highest level for the first time in four years after temperatures reached up to 38C.
South Korea's interior minister Lee Sang-min wants organisers of the jamboree to change their plans to work around the heat to prevent any more people becoming ill.
More medical personnel are now at the event to help and devices are being used to cool people down.
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