Nepal’s spring Everest climbing season opened this week amid a police probe into an alleged insurance fraud worthe nearly $20 million in which guides, helicopter operators, hospital staff and agents are accused of staging or inflating medical emergencies to trigger costly helicopter evacuations and bogus insurance claims.
Police said the methods included mixing baking soda into food to induce nausea and bloating, giving excessive Diamox — a medicine that helps with acclimatisation at high altitude — with forced over-hydration to mimic symptoms of high-altitude cerebral edema, and in some cases using laxatives to weaken trekkers to the point where they could no longer continue on foot. Fake flight manifests, load sheets, invoices and hospital records were then allegedly used to support the claims.
