The great Nepal helicopter rescue fraud: an introduction

Last week Agence France Presse (AFP) reported that a group of insurance companies from Britain, Australia and New Zealand has given the Nepal government a deadline of this Saturday (1 September) to take concrete steps to prevent helicopter rescue fraud, or it will stop providing cover to tourists travelling to Nepal.

If it goes ahead, this would be an unprecedented move that could effectively make Nepal a no-go destination for tourists from those three countries. But how has it come to this,...