Missing trekker report 2023:

Did the ban on independent trekking work in Nepal?

In March 2023, the Nepal Tourism Board and TAAN resurrected an old law in Nepal (going back to the civil war) that said trekkers could not trek alone in Nepal. Both agencies made every effort to let people know it was illegal to trek without a guide in Nepal and fines would be implemented.

It created a panic among trekkers for the first season as flights were already booked, trekking agencies increased fees, and many independent trekkers cancelled.

TIMS cards were removed from public access. Meaning the only way a trekker or trekking company could get one was through an online portal that TAAN updated statistics on every week. It also meant that many older trekking companies and indeed guides were no longer able to work. The promise was that it would be safer, checkpoints would ensure proper registration and trekker tracking while guide training would be increased.

By the end of 2023, not one TAAN checkpoint had reopened. The updates on statistics had stopped, and despite a drop in missing trekkers, trekker deaths were increasing.

Hoax reports on missing trekkers increased

During this period, several trekking region municipalities rejected or opposed the new “rules”. This included the Solukhumbu region which implemented its own TREK CARD system instead of TIMS cards and allowed solo trekkers to trek in the Everest Region. A war of words erupted between TAAN supporting Trekking Agents (many of whom have a financial link to TAAN or NTB) and the Solukhumbu region.

Interestingly, during this initial period, there was a sharp rise in missing trekkers being reported in the Solukhumbu region. News outlets posted reports of lone trekkers going missing, or not being seen. MissingTrekker.com also received reports of these and other trekkers going “missing” from the Solukhumbu region.

MissingTrekker does not post about a missing trekker until several checks are done. There are several reasons for this. The two main reasons are that often times desperate families will post a missing trekker if their loved one has not been in contact for a day or two. This is understandable as they are worried. Depending on the circumstances and through our approval system, the primary cause is often that they are out of mobile range, or there is a power shortage in the area.

Throughout this period MissingTrekker stays in close contact with the family and initiates an initial private search. Again, we don’t make this public due to several bad actors in Nepal. In many cases, the missing trekker gets in touch and states the above and all is well again.

In 2023, following the ban on solo trekking, the number of reports coming in nearly became overwhelming. They all had one thing in common. All the reports were coming from the Solukhumbu region. Few “family members” ever followed up on primary communication on the reports. 95% of all the reports we received stating someone had gone missing had zero evidence at any stage of our investigation of anyone going missing.

Investigating this upsurge, we found that all of those 95% were sending emails either via Nepal or a VPN.
Then, someone slipped up and the email address they used was that of a trekking agency.

Online and offline there was a smear campaign by many trekking companies against the Solukhumbu region. Sadly, the evidence in the months following the ban points that this includes raising alerts on non-existent trekkers.

The motives? Much the same as in previous smear campaigns in Nepal. Money. Solukhumbu was branching off by themselves, and other regions were looking at them during a time when there was a new system in place to prevent missing trekkers in Nepal that did not benefit the new system.

2023 missing trekkers in Nepal

6 trekkers went missing in Nepal in 2023. 5 trekkers were located within 2-3 days after contacting MissingTrekker. All cases involved a lack of internet, or battery issues. No injuries or sickness were reported. All of these 5 trekkers continued their treks.

1 trekker went missing in December 2023 on the Mardi Himal Trek and is still missing.
Michael Liu Blomberg

Trekking deaths in 2023

11 trekkers are reported to have died in Nepal during 2023. Staggeringly, many of those outside the Solukhumbu region were with guides. Those not with guides had no follow-ups. Including how, following the new “rules” someone could go trekking without a guide.

Below are links to some of the news articles

• Korean Woman Dies Annapurna Region = https://annapurnapost.com/news/korean-women-dead-in-mustang-223205/
• Slovakian man dies in Solukhumbu = too much snow to mount rescue http://www.tourismmail.com/news/detail/101226/
• Japanese man goes missing in Everest region http://www.himalsamachar.com/2023/03/30/31812
• Australian Dies in Solukhumbu = https://solufm.com/news/6469?
• USA trekker dies when moving boulder in Manang https://www.gandaknews.com/2023/10/05/118867/?
• October 2023 Malaysian trekker died on the ABC trek due to heart attack
• October Three Trekkers die in Mustang after falling into a lake https://clickgandaki.com/2023/10/8486/?
• German goes missing in Solukhumbu https://www.himalsamachar.com/2023/10/16/36762
• November Korean trekker dies in Gokyo https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/korean-national-treks-to-khumbu-alone-dies-at-gokyo?

There were also reports of two porter deaths. Yet the circumstances are not clear. Once again, a number of Nepali trekkers are also reported to have have died however this news is not circulated in the media with the details and only reported through the local or rural citizens.

Further, Missing Trekker has also received the highest number of non-trekker related missing persons reports since records began. The majority of these reports are from Nepali families. Anyone contacting Missing Trekker with non-trekking related missing persons reports are asked to contact the appropriate authorities in Nepal.

MissingTrekker does not keep records of trekkers who died in Nepal that were not reported missing. However, over the past few years some of the circumstances of these deaths are important to note. Some reasons include, guides being present, unusual circumstances, and letting future trekkers know of potential issues.

Conclusion on missing trekkers in Nepal during 2023

1 confirmed Missing trekker in 2023 compared to 2022 when 5 went missing seems like an improvement. However, the spate of unconfirmed missing trekkers far exceeds this number. The Japanese man and German above are examples of “missing trekkers” where virtually nothing else was heard about following the news article. If we were to follow this then the number exceeds 2022. However, without official reports, or direct confirmed contact, it does not seem correct to publish them.

The more staggering statistic comes from the number of deaths in 2023 which reached 11. While some could indeed be deemed natural causes, some deaths occurred with guides that raise serious questions on their circumstances and activities.
Perhaps the biggest conclusions from the 2023 report on missing trekkers in Nepal is the sheer lack of any notable reporting systems in Nepal despite the “mandatory trekking guide” rule being implemented.

Why are there no official follow-ups on missing trekkers, or their deaths? Why are there no public news conferences on these events? Why has Nepal introduced a mandatory guide rule (a ban on solo trekking) but not implemented a single new checkpoint since then?

MissingTrekker advises trekkers to seek out reputable trekking agencies in Nepal. Avoid large booking sites or large group treks. The rule is 1 guide to 5 trekkers. Many companies are using porters instead of guides with these large discounted group treks. When booking a trek in Nepal it’s often best to consider that there are no regulations being carried out in practice. Perhaps knowing this will ensure that trekkers themselves will act more cautiously, avoid clever YouTube reviews by “influencers” or TripAdvisor reviews, do more impartial guidebook research, and watch out for themselves even in the company of a trekking guide.

MissingTrekker.com continues to post information on trekkers that have gone missing in Nepal. If you have any information on a missing trekker please follow these guidelines.