$20M Everest rescue scam casts shadow on Nepal’s climbing season

Nepal’s spring Everest climbing season kicks off this week as police investigate a nearly $20 million insurance fraud in which guides, helicopter operators, hospital staff and agents are accused of orchestrating or exaggerating medical emergencies to trigger expensive helicopter evacuations and false insurance claims. Police said these methods included mixing baking soda into food to cause nausea and bloating, taking an overdose of Diamox, a drug that helps with acclimatization to high altitude, and forcing excessive hydration to simulate the symptoms of high altitude cerebral edema, and in some cases using laxatives to weaken hikers so they were unable to continue hiking. Falsified flight manifests, loading sheets, invoices and hospital records were allegedly used to support the claims. “Hospitals, helicopter operators and tour guides are also linked to this chain; we are investigating the matter,” said Shiva Kumar Shrestha, spokesman for Nepal Police’s Central Bureau of Investigation.Operators say the misuse of rescue flights has increased in recent years and is starting to impact the availability of helicopters in real emergencies. Mingma Sherpa, owner of Seven Peaks Trekking in Kathmandu, told us toy If international insurance companies lose confidence in Nepal’s rescue chain, the consequences could extend beyond the current situation. Lukas Furtenbach, the Austrian director of Furtenbach Expeditions, said the accusations, particularly those involving food tampering and hospital records, threatened confidence in Nepal’s rescue system. “The level of organized crime here is staggering. We’re talking about millions of dollars flowing through hospitals that provide false discharge summaries for patients who never got sick,” he said.Investigators said the scam, which ran between 2022 and 2025, involved more than 300 false rescues and, in some cases, allegedly intentionally made hikers sick before flying to Kathmandu and billing foreign insurance companies by forging or altering records.Police have charged 32 people with organized crime-related charges and have widened the investigation to include the owners of Mountain Rescue Services, Nepal Chartered Services and Shreedhi Hospital. Of the accused, nine have been detained and 23 are absconding. “During our initial investigation, we found that these companies were involved in approximately 300 fake rescues,” Shrestha said.Investigators say one of the primary methods was to load several hikers onto a helicopter and bill multiple insurance companies as if each was flying on a separate private charter. They also claimed that exhausted hikers were forced to exaggerate symptoms and, in some cases, deliberately get themselves into trouble so that evacuation seemed to be the only option.Manoj Kumar KC, director general of the Central Bureau of Investigation, said, “We have solid evidence against the companies and individuals involved in the fake rescue scam. All of them will be prosecuted…”Garrett Madison, an expedition leader with Madison Mountaineering, who has climbed Mount Everest 10 times, added: “We see this every season: helicopters flying in circles to serve people who just have a headache or are a little tired from hiking. It turns a life-saving tool into a mountain taxi service. My concern is for people who actually have HACE or limb fractures – can a helicopter serve them…? “The investigation also looked into how commissions were allegedly transferred through the system. Dr Girwan Raj Timilsina of Shreedhi Hospital said in a recorded statement: “My hospital also provides commission from its revenue to trekking companies and rescue companies to promote business.”Nepal Tourism Board chief executive Deepak Raj Joshi said corrective measures would help restore confidence.