Hot temperatures have already driven hundreds of U.S. scouts to leave, and now 36,000 others from 158 countries will be evacuated from the coastal site.
Seoul, South Korea — South Korea will evacuate tens of thousands of scouts by bus from a coastal jamboree site as Tropical Storm Khanun looms, officials said Monday. Beginning Tuesday morning, vehicles will move 36,000 scouts — mostly teenagers — from the World Scout Jamboree in the southwestern county of Buan, according to Kim Sung-ho, a vice minister at South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety.
He said most of the scouts, who come from 158 countries, will be accommodated at venues in the capital city, Seoul, and the nearby metropolitan area. Officials were trying to secure spaces at government training centers and education facilities as well as hotels. Kim said it would take six hours or more to evacuate the scouts from the campsite, which organizers said will no longer be used for any event after they leave.
Hot temperatures have already forced thousands of British and American scouts to leave the site, which is made on land reclaimed from sea. The British scouts were transferred to hotels in Seoul while the American scouts were moved to Camp Humphreys, a U.S. military base about 45 miles south of Seoul.\
The announcement came after The World Organization of the Scout Movement said it had urgently called on South Korea to move the scouts from the storm’s path and «provide all necessary resources and support for participants during their stay and until they return to their home countries.»
South Korea categorizes Khanun as a typhoon, defined as a tropical storm with winds stronger than 38 miles per hour. South Korea’s weather agency expects Khanun to weaken to a storm within the next five days.
South Korea’s government did not immediately specify any venues where the scouts will be staying.
