Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

https://kathmandupost.com/money/2026/03/27/inside-nepal-s-fake-rescue-racket

89•lode•2h ago

Comments

tomaskafka•1h ago

“Wasn’t the system supposed to be fixed?“

Why would it be fixed? Insurance companies aren’t willing to invest in oversight, and everyone else profit, there is no incentive for changing the system.

bombcar•51m ago

If the cost to an individual insurance company is low enough (in the few millions) and they're not really at risk of it suddenly exploding, and the cost for them to mitigate is also in the millions (or risks killing a customer), they're unlikely to improve. Fight Club, but the other way around.

However, if they all gang up together they might do something - but that can cause other issues (a local insurer becomes the only insurance available, etc).

datadrivenangel•39m ago

Nepal is a low income and high corruption country, where the government and formal business structures are unstable enough that 'tipping' becomes common even for government investigators...

It's basically a way for everyone to get more tourists dollars, which is one of Nepals primary exports.

IAmBroom•1h ago

"In at least one case cited in the investigation, baking powder was mixed into food to make tourists physically unwell."

The only ill effect I can find from overconsumption is a "tingly sensation on the tongue". Of course, that doesn't mean the 'poisoner' wasn't ignorant of this, and genuinely did it trying to make them sick. Or maybe they simply said, "If you feel your tongue tingling, YOU ARE DYING!!!".

MontagFTB•1h ago

Could it be a symptom of high altitude oxygen deprivation?

datadrivenangel•37m ago

Yes, which is why it's easy to then convince people to evacuate. People do die on Everest, including EBC treks from altitude sickness alone, so severe symptoms usually lead to taking the trekking back down the mountain.

ambicapter•54m ago

I feel like "make physically unwell" here just means they'll taste something gross, not realize it is the baking powder, and treat the feeling as if something is wrong with their body. I know mixing up baking soda and baking powder has made for some pretty unpleasant tasting food for me.

ceejayoz•52m ago

It’s a leavener when you get it wet, so swallowing enough will definitely feel like digestive upset from all the gas.

skilled•51m ago

I did the Everest base camp trek in late 2015, at that time it was quite common (saw it myself and heard about it) that people would do the trek up but to get down they would fake a leg/back injury or blame altitude sickness and the chopper from Kathmandu would come pick you up, as long as you had the right insurance.

bombcar•49m ago

I wonder how much a chopper ride would cost at "reasonable rates" (e.g, not the air ambulance but just a chopper).

doikor•46m ago

Per person around $1500. Over 10k of you can’t fill the chopper.

paxys•45m ago

I'm assuming less than the average ambulance ride in the USA

MikeNotThePope•39m ago

I can tell you exactly what it cost for me. I took the helicopter from Gorakshep, the highest/last town on the EBC trek, to Lukla, the crazy airport people call the most dangerous one in the world. For me, a 255 lb / 155kg guy, 2 Nepalis that are each half my size, a pilot, and our not-that-heavy hiking gear was 2000 USD in October of 2024.

Pics/video: https://www.instagram.com/p/DBTpLGtydZW/

MikeNotThePope•47m ago

To be honest I'm surprised insurance is offered at all. I did the EBC trek a couple years ago. The temptation to take a helicopter down was real & I didn't have insurance.

datadrivenangel•42m ago

Rescue insurance was required by the trekking company when I did EBC a few years back.

givemeethekeys•43m ago

Sounds pretty bad until you look at the numbers.

miltonlost•34m ago

Stop pointlessly climbing mountains and ruining the natural environment. Climbing Mt Everest at this point is just a sign of conspicuous consumption and not any achievement other than financial. Would have been better to spend your money lighting it on fire.

datadrivenangel•23m ago

This is mostly trekking related evacuation, which is far easy and lower impact. EBC is about 100x cheaper overall per person than summit attempts, if not 500x.

And Sagarmartha national park and the whole valley up to EBC is an amazingly beautiful part of the world.

rdtsc•25m ago

> But none of that worked “The scam continued due to lax punitive action,”

It percolated up. It’s usually what happens with corruption. If lower levels are found out to have a lucrative scheme, the higher ups (auditors, police, legislators) make a big fuss about stumping it publicly, but behind the scenes go and ask for a cut.