Mistakes, mix-ups and mishaps: Jamboree woes continue

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Mistakes, mix-ups and mishaps: Jamboree woes continue

Published: 09 Aug. 2023, 18:06 Updated: 10 Aug. 2023, 02:08

The front windshield and bumper of a tour bus that was carrying Swiss scouts was smashed after colliding with a public bus in Suncheon, South Jeolla, on Wednesday afternoon. [NEWS1]

The disorganization of the 25th World Scout Jamboree was thrown into sharper relief on Wednesday as several mix-ups in accommodation arrangements for evacuated participants came to light.

In one instance, the Jamboree’s organizers told local government authorities to prepare accommodation for a foreign scout contingent that had never even arrived in Korea for the event.

In an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo on Wednesday, South Chungcheong officials said that the Jamboree’s organizing committee requisitioned a dormitory at Hyejeon College, located in the provincial capital of Hongseong County, to accommodate 175 Yemeni scouts and volunteers who were scheduled to be transferred from the Jamboree campsite in Buan County, North Jeolla.

In response to the request, the South Chungcheong provincial government, Hongseong County and Hyejeon College all dispatched officials to inspect the cleanliness of the dormitory and ensure enough food had been prepared ahead of the Yemeni contingent’s arrival.

But hours after they had prepared their welcome for the Yemeni scouts’ expected arrival, the officials gathered at Hyejeon College were informed by the Jamboree’s organizing committee at 9 p.m. that the scout delegation from Yemen had never arrived in Korea for the festival.

An official from the South Chungcheong government told the JoongAng Ilbo on condition of anonymity that the Jamboree organizers appeared to have realized the Yemeni scouts’ absence from the event only after officials waiting at the Hyejeon College dormitory made repeated inquiries about their whereabouts.

“We still have no idea as to why they were included in the list of evacuees from the Jamboree campsite,” the official said, who added that all of the food prepared for the missing Yemeni scout contingent had to be thrown away.

In another mix-up, the Jamboree organizers assigned 120 female Swiss participants to a men’s dormitory on Hanyang University’s campus in Seoul, forcing them to be reallocated to hotel accommodation upon arrival.

A university representative told the JoongAng Ilbo that Hanyang administrators had informed the Jamboree organizers that the requisitioned dormitory could only accommodate men, but that the notice appeared to have been lost “in what appears to have been a chaotic situation.”

Meanwhile, ten people were injured after a tour bus carrying Swiss scouts collided with a public bus in Suncheon, South Jeolla, on Wednesday afternoon, according to local authorities.

The accident occurred at 12:46 p.m. in front of a youth training center where the scouts camped outside on Tuesday night after departing the World Scout Jamboree campsite in Buan County, North Jeolla, ahead of the expected landfall of Typhoon Khanun.

The scouts had just started their journey to Seoul on the tour bus when it collided with the local public bus.

According to local authorities, 38 people were aboard the tour bus, including 36 members of the Swiss scout delegation, their guide and the bus driver, while five people were aboard the public bus, including the driver.

Five people, including the driver, were injured aboard the tour bus carrying the Swiss scout delegation, while all five people on the public bus were injured, according to local authorities.

Officials did not specify what kind of injuries they had suffered.

Photos taken at the accident scene showed that the front windshields and bumpers of both buses had been smashed in the collision.

Local emergency personnel transported those injured to a local hospital. Police are investigating the exact cause of the accident.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]