Mt Everest guides poisoned 4,700 foreign climbers to force fake rescues in $20m scam

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Investigators say guides used a range of methods to force helicopter evacuations, including faking medical emergencies and lacing food with large amounts of baking powder to stimulate gastric distress commonly associated with altitude sickness. Others were given medications with excessive amounts of water to trigger symptoms.

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Mount Everest guides have been accused of secretly drugging foreign climbers to trigger expensive aerial evacuations as part of a $20m (£15m) insurance fraud scheme, according to an investigation by the Nepali police.

Operators of mountain rescue companies in Nepal have been arrested as part of the police operation, and a police spokesperson told The Independent that a total of 32 people have been charged and 11 arrests made so far.

The scale of the scam appears to be vast, affecting 4,782 international climbers between 2022 and 2025. Police said more than 300 cases of alleged fake rescues have been uncovered, with bills totalling nearly $20m charged to climbers and insurers.

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The scandal has led to new scrutiny over tour operators and guides as this year’s spring climbing season got underway on 30 March. Investigators say the scam involved multiple actors across the trekking ecosystem, including sherpas, trekking company owners, helicopter operators and hospital executives.

Six operators and managers from rescue companies were the first to be arrested on 25 January for allegedly claiming insurance money by faking the rescue of foreign tourists who they say had fallen ill while trekking, police said.

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After trekkers reported nausea, dizziness or body aches, they were advised to descend and agree to costly emergency helicopter evacuations. Authorities said operators then used forged medical and flight documents to claim costs from international travel insurers.

Once a “rescue” was triggered, operators inflated costs by billing each passenger as if they had taken a separate helicopter flight, even when multiple people were flown together. Fake flight records and forged medical documents were then used to support exaggerated insurance claims, while hospitals created false admission and treatment reports – in some cases for tourists who were not actually receiving care.

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These rescue companies managed to extract nearly $20m in payouts from international insurance companies for rescues that were unnecessary or, in some cases, completely fabricated.

The Nepal Police’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) said the offences had caused harm to “Nepal’s national pride, prestige and dignity internationally”.

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