Yorkshire volunteer impressed by World Scout Jamboree evacuation in South Korea

Jon Richards, who has been in the scouts for 43 years, said it was “challenging” to evacuate so many people from the coastal campsite in SaeManGeum when there was only one route out.

Around 37,000 people, from 156 countries, have been safely moved to the capital Seoul and the surrounding area, to avoid Typhoon Khanu

More than 1,000 vehicles were used to relocate the scouts, after the evacuation began on Tuesday morning, and thousands are now being housed in university dormitories, government buildings and hotels.

Mr Richards, a critical care paramedic who works for Yorkshire ambulance service, said the scouts remained calm throughout the evacuation because they are used to following instructions.

“It went really well,” he said. “We didn’t have any buses break down, which is unheard of.

“Everyone got off site and everyone got to where they needed to be. There were a few errors in that some contingents got split up and sent to different places, but out of almost 40,000 people, I'll take that.

“For a mass movement like that with virtually no issues, it is pretty impressive and I have to take my hat off to the Korean Government for doing that."

During the evacuation, he was providing support in the operation centre alongside volunteers from various countries, including Mexico, Portugal, Finland and America.

“I didn't have much sleep for a couple of days,“ he said. “It was challenging.

“The typhoon was due to hit on Wednesday, but we needed to get everyone away before that as rain would have caused us real issues.

“It would have damaged all the drainage which would have made it difficult to get people off site.”

World Organization of the Scout Movement said everyone has been moved to safety, but three Swiss Scouts suffered minor injuries in a bus crash when they were leaving.

South Korean officials say the Jamboree will continue in the form of cultural events and activities, including a K-Pop concert in Seoul.

Before the evacuation, the organisers had been accused of failing to protect scouts from a punishing heatwave as hundreds of cases of heat exhaustion were reported.

Some have also complained about poor sanitation, and a lack of food, shelter and medical services at the 12-day event.

UK and US contingents pulled thousands of scouts out of the campsite over the weekend and they were followed by other countries.

SaeManGeum is a largely barren area of land which was reclaimed from the sea in the southwestern county of Buan after a 21-mile seawall was completed in 2010.

Once seen as a major development project that would revamp the region, many now see SaeManGeum as an ecological disaster that wiped out coastal wetlands and hurt fisheries production.