Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket • Hacker News Board

Re: Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

#11

Post by bombcar » Thu, Apr 02, 2026, 1:19 PM UTC

tomaskafka wrote: post #2

“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.

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).

Re: Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

#12

Post by yard2010 » Thu, Apr 02, 2026, 1:21 PM UTC

dr_faustus wrote: post #6

[flagged]

The problem is not in this specific case (those insurance companies won't go bankrupt), but with the system. When you don't have a proper administration you can't really cooperate as effectively as with proper administration. This is the symptom, not the problem.

Imaging the price of less cooperation - when taken to the extreme the insurance company won't accept to insure people trekking there. The price will go up. This will hurt both the industry and the trekkers.

Proper administration > profit

Re: Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

#13

Post by bombcar » Thu, Apr 02, 2026, 1:21 PM UTC

skilled wrote: post #10

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.

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

Re: Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

#14

Post by MikeNotThePope » Thu, Apr 02, 2026, 1:22 PM UTC

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.

Re: Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

#15

Post by doikor » Thu, Apr 02, 2026, 1:23 PM UTC

bombcar wrote: post #13

skilled wrote: post #10

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.

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

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

Re: Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

#16

Post by paxys » Thu, Apr 02, 2026, 1:24 PM UTC

bombcar wrote: post #13

skilled wrote: post #10

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.

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

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

Re: Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

#17

Post by givemeethekeys » Thu, Apr 02, 2026, 1:26 PM UTC

Sounds pretty bad until you look at the numbers.

Re: Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

#18

Post by datadrivenangel » Thu, Apr 02, 2026, 1:27 PM UTC

MikeNotThePope wrote: post #14

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.

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

Re: Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

#19

Post by datadrivenangel » Thu, Apr 02, 2026, 1:30 PM UTC

tomaskafka wrote: post #2

“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.

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.

Re: Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

#20

Post by MikeNotThePope » Thu, Apr 02, 2026, 1:30 PM UTC

bombcar wrote: post #13

skilled wrote: post #10

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.

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

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 lbs / 115kg 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/