Authorities have arrested six travel and mountain rescue executives accused of conducting fake rescues on the Himalayan nation’s high mountains to scam millions of dollars from international insurance companies, officials said.
Nepal’s Central Investigation Bureau arrested six people from three different travel and mountain rescue operators last week, accusing them of submitting fake claims for close to US$20mil between 2022 and 2025 and receiving the money in their accounts.
All six are Nepali nationals.
Bureau spokesperson Shiva Kumar Shrestha said yesterday that authorities are still investigating.
Fake documents including passenger and cargo manifests for helicopter rescue flights, medical invoices and hospital reports were sent to insurance companies, the bureau said.
The agency said 171 of the 1,248 rescues claimed by one company were fake, leading to unjustified payouts of more than US$10mil.
Another is accused of fabricating 75 of 471 claimed rescues and fraudulently claiming US$8mil, while the last one is accused of making 71 fake claims with payouts totalling over US$1mil.
Thousands of climbers come to Nepal every year to scale the highest Himalayan mountains, while tens of thousands more also come to hike the mountain trails leading up to the base camps of these high peaks.
Every year, several climbers die and hundreds of those rescued suffer from extreme exhaustion, altitude sickness or other medical issues.
There are few roads and limited medical facilities in the mountains, so rescuers are often forced to charter expensive helicopter flights to transport patients to hospitals in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.
High altitude climbers are required to show proof of insurance covering helicopter rescue before they are issued climbing permits. — AP
