KATHMANDU — Nepalese authorities arrested ten people in Kathmandu in connection with an alleged multi-million-dollar insurance fraud scheme that targeted foreign climbers on Mount Everest and other Himalayan peaks. The arrests, announced by Nepal's Central Investigation Bureau in a press release, involved individuals from a trekking company, a rescue company, and hospitals in the capital.

"Foreign tourists were systematically defrauded," said Shiva Kumar Shrestha, a spokesperson for the Central Investigation Bureau. According to Shrestha, foreign tourists who endured health problems while trekking in Nepal's Himalayan region were specifically targeted in the alleged scheme.

Travel and mountain industry executives were accused of staging fake rescues on Nepal's mountain peaks to defraud international insurance companies of millions of dollars, according to the bureau's press release. The companies involved allegedly faked documents presented to Nepali authorities and insurance companies and forged passenger and cargo manifests to support the fraudulent claims.

Investigators identified nearly 4,800 international climbers who were treated at implicated hospitals between 2022 and 2025. In one case cited by investigators, an assistant at a Kathmandu hospital allegedly submitted his own year-old X-ray report to support a treatment claim for foreign trekkers in order to obtain insurance payouts.

In addition to the ten people arrested, thirty-two guides have been charged in connection with the alleged scam. The charges span trekking operators, rescue firms, hospital staff, and mountain guides across multiple sectors of Nepal's mountaineering industry.

"The scheme has gravely damaged and degraded Nepal's international reputation," the bureau said in its press release.

Mount Everest, whose summit stands at 29,029 feet above sea level, attracts around 1,000 climbers each year. A total of 7,583 people have successfully reached the summit. Rescues and medical incidents occur frequently on the mountain due to extreme conditions and high altitude, and a small number of deaths are reported every year.