Someone hurt or ill in the mountains? Call the rescue line.
Have ready the patient's location, their condition and your insurance details. We alert rescue operators by phone as soon as you call. No account, no form.
- Line open
- 24 h
- Account
- None needed
- KTM → Lukla
- ≈ 45 min
- Rescue landings
- to ≈ 6,400 m
From the call to the hospital.
Rescue in Nepal is arranged by phone. A form cannot ask the follow-up question a dispatcher needs when someone is getting worse at 5,000 m.
We alert rescue operators by phone
The desk answers at any hour, in English and Nepali. While you are still on the line, we phone the CAAN-certified operators that keep crews and aircraft on standby.
Finding an aircraft
This is the status while the desk rings operators until one can take the flight. A rescue flight is never guaranteed: darkness, cloud and wind decide whether one can launch.
Airline is coming
When an operator takes the flight, we tell you its name. The crew calls the number you gave and talks you through the landing site. The pilot makes the final call on whether the weather and the altitude allow the flight. If an operator withdraws, the desk goes back to finding an aircraft.
The flight to hospital
The aircraft flies the patient to a hospital in Kathmandu. From the upper Khumbu the flying is about an hour. Keep every paper you are handed at the hospital and the operator's desk: your insurer will ask for them.
- If this is altitude sickness, descend. Losing 500 m does more than anything else available to you, and a helicopter may not fly for hours.
- Keep the patient warm and still. Do not give food or drink if they are unconscious.
- Mark a landing site if you safely can: flat, clear of loose debris, ideally 25 m across. Weigh down anything that could blow into the rotor.
- Keep the phone on and charged. The crew will call this number.
- Tourist Police
- 1144
- Police
- 100
- Ambulance
- 102
The desk finds an aircraft; these national lines reach the police, an ambulance or a doctor. The Himalayan Rescue Association runs aid posts at Pheriche (Everest) and Manang (Annapurna) in the spring and autumn trekking seasons.
Who pays, and the clauses that decide it.
Travel insurance usually pays for a helicopter evacuation, if the policy covers it at the altitude you were. Two numbers in the policy decide it, and insurers now ask for paperwork too.
- What policies commonly say
- Trekking excluded above 4,000 m.
- What Nepal needs
- Cover above 5,545 m, Kala Patthar, the high point of a standard Everest trek. Everest Base Camp is at 5,364 m.
- What policies commonly say
- US$1,000 to US$2,000, or no explicit helicopter wording.
- What Nepal needs
- A limit in the tens of thousands of US dollars, with the words "helicopter evacuation" written in.
- What policies commonly say
- Rarely mentioned at purchase.
- What insurers ask for
- A medical report, a flight record and evidence that the evacuation was necessary.
Write the policy number and the assistance company's phone number on paper before you trek, somewhere that needs no signal and no charged phone. The operator's liability insurance covers the operator; it is not the travel insurance that pays for your evacuation.
© Calistemon · CC BY-SA 3.0Lukla to Kathmandu, as a guide only.
The one medical evacuation route the airlines publish: from the Khumbu to a hospital helipad in Kathmandu.
- From
- LuklaVNLK · 2,845 m
- To
- KathmanduVNKT · hospital helipad
- Flight
- ≈ 70 minLukla to Kathmandu
- Whole aircraft
- US$5,500published guide
The trekking regions, by landing site.
An evacuation is flown to a landing site, not to a point on a trail. Where there is nowhere to land, some crews can lift a patient on a longline beneath the aircraft. Not every operator holds that equipment.
Lukla to Kala Patthar
Kathmandu to Lukla is about 45 minutes in the air; the upper Khumbu about an hour.
The sanctuary and the circuit
Thorong La, the circuit's high pass, is at 5,416 m.
Langtang valley and Gosaikunda
Manaslu Base Camp
Lo Manthang
Where the aircraft start
Most of Nepal's charter helicopters are based at one of the two.
Cost, cover and timing.
Researching before a trek? The full account is in how helicopter rescue works in Nepal.
How much does a helicopter rescue in Nepal cost?
An evacuation from the Everest region costs roughly US$3,000 to US$8,000, and more where a longline and a specialist crew are needed. Flight time, the altitude of the pickup and whether a second aircraft is needed set the figure. Operators usually fly on the medical need, but most ask for your insurer's assistance number or a guarantee of payment, and bill the insurer afterwards. If the insurer declines, the bill is yours.
Who pays for a helicopter evacuation?
Travel insurance pays for most helicopter evacuations in Nepal, if the policy covers helicopter evacuation and permits trekking at the altitude where you were. Many standard policies exclude trekking above 4,000 m, which is below Everest Base Camp at 5,364 m, and others cap evacuation well under the real cost. Where cover does not apply, the bill falls to the patient.
How quickly can a helicopter reach the Everest region?
Once a crew accepts the flight, the flying from Kathmandu is about 45 minutes to Lukla and about an hour to the upper Khumbu. The delay is rarely the flight itself. Rescue helicopters in Nepal fly in visual conditions, so a request made in the afternoon, in fog or after dark often waits for the next flyable window.
Can a helicopter reach you if there is nowhere to land?
Yes, on a longline. Where there is no landable surface, a crew can lift a patient on a line beneath the aircraft. Rescue landings are made up to about 6,400 m, at Everest's Camp 2, in a lightened aircraft on a good day; above that a longline is the only option. Not every operator holds the crews and equipment, so descending even a few hundred metres on foot often turns an impossible retrieval into a straightforward one.
Do you need an account or a booking to call a rescue?
No. The rescue line, +977 98 6104 4994, is answered 24 hours a day with no account, no form and no booking. Have ready the patient's location, their symptoms, their approximate weight and a callback number.
What should I tell my insurer?
Call the assistance number on your policy as soon as you can, with the patient's location, their condition and the operator's name once you have it. The operator's liability insurance is separate from your own travel insurance and does not pay for your evacuation.
Save the number. Check the policy.
Write the rescue line and your insurer's assistance number on paper. Both need to work without signal or a charged phone.