Kathmandu, Jan. 29 -- Nepali helicopter companies on Monday issued a 'firm' denial of the allegations contained in a series of news stories published by national and international media outlets that they were involved in multi-million dollar insurance scams involving bogus rescues.

The Helicopter Society of Nepal, which has 10 helicopter companies as its members, said that the allegation that they were pushing agencies for emergency evacuations of foreign trekkers and mountaineers for minor illnesses was 'baseless' and 'far from the truth'.

"We don't conduct rescue operation and deal with insurance claims directly," Yog Raj Kandel, secretary general of the society, told a press meet here on Monday. "A chopper is dispatched to rescue peo...