PROGRESS IN ELIMINATING FAKE HELICOPTER RESCUES
In March 2026, the Nepal Government indicted 32 individuals for involvement in rescue scams. They include owners of helicopter charter companies, owners of trekking companies, employees of helicopter companies and staff/owners of clinics based in Kathmandu. Read this article by Ratopati which has a list of those accused of involvement. Here are a couple ways in which the indictees have been accused of conducting the scams:
- Designing itineraries that ascend rapidly causing trekkers to suffer from high altitude sickness. Or adding baking soda and other ingredients in trekker’s food to cause diarrhea (though this is hard to prove). Note, it is possible that trekkers suffered from gastrointestinal issues even without their meals being spiked. Then the guide and trekking company immediately called in a helicopter to rescue the trekker for which the insurance companies are charged an exorbitant amount. In many cases, the sickness was mild and did not warrant an immediate helicopter evacuation.
- Billing each “rescuee” the full cost of the helicopter flight even when several trekkers who were being rescued shared the flight. This is not to be confused with instances where sometimes locals and other trekkers take a ride in the helicopter but are NOT billed for the flight.
FIRST INVESTIGATIONS IN 2018
Investigations into the scams were first reported in 2018 and several individuals were indicted at that time. See this Kathmandu Post article which includes a list of indictees. But remember it was the old political trio (The Nepali Congress, The Nepali Communist Party – UML, and The Maoist) playing musical chair at that time. And the prevalent nepotism, cronyism and patronage meant that prosecution was lax. Therefore, the investigations and indictments all came to naught.
Check out this interesting article written in the Guardian where several insurance companies hired Danny Kaine to uncover the scam. “The majority of the trekking companies involved in the fraud are charging a lot less than legitimate companies, maybe $500 for a $1,000 trek,” said Kaine, who works for the medical assistance company Traveller Assist. “They are losing money on each trek and need to make it up.” Kaine said he had uncovered examples of budget-conscious travellers paying $500 to trek to Everest base camp and upon arriving, being offered $750 by trekking companies to feign illness and be evacuated by helicopter.”
After this investigation trekking companies and helicopter rescue companies were required to report to the country’s Tourist Search and Rescue Committee, as well as the Tourist Police and Department of Tourism before conducting a rescue. This, however, only added to the bureaucratic hassle and greatly slowed down genuine rescues. And despite the investigations and report in 2018, fake rescues continued unabated until six people were arrested in March 2026. Now with the new seemingly unbiased Government in power in Nepal many hope that this matter will now be a priority and such fake rescues will not occur in the future.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE
International media, as they did in 2018, have again covered this issue. However, some have reported that this happened on climbs of Mount Everest and that is far from the truth. All of the fake evacuations usually happen on treks (as opposed to climbs) in Nepal. Check out this article on Outside online.
It is obvious that these scams taint the image of tourism in Nepal. Our country is highly dependent on tourism employing millions both directly and indirectly. Some big insurance companies have even warned to not insure travelers to Nepal; many have raised premiums. Hence, it is important that we curb and eliminate such unethical practices. Crystal Mountain Treks does not engage in unethical practices and will never force a trekker to take a helicopter evacuation. We have always believed we should price our treks adequately instead of profiting from helicopter evacuations. All helicopter evacuations we have undertaken have mostly been at the behest of the trekker and only sometimes when the guide deems it necessary. In the past three years we had three evacuations in 2023, zero in 2024 and two in 2025.
