Emergency numbers and help in Nepal

The numbers

• There is no working 112. Dial the specific service.
• The Tourist Police are the useful ones for theft, lost documents and disputes, with desks in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan and English on the phone.
• An ambulance is transport, not treatment. In Kathmandu a taxi to CIWEC is often faster than waiting.
• Save your hotel's address in Nepali to show a driver. Written English is not always enough.

If something goes wrong

• Theft: report it to the Tourist Police and get the report in writing. Your insurer will want it and no online form replaces it.
• A lost passport means the police report first, then your embassy, all of which are in Kathmandu.
• On a trek, your guide and agency are the first call and the insurer is the second. Give both numbers to someone at home before you leave.
• Tell your insurer while it is happening. A guarantee of payment issued during the emergency is what gets a helicopter into the air.

Worth saving now

• Your insurer's 24-hour assistance number and policy number, written down as well as in the phone.
• CIWEC Hospital, Kathmandu, which answers around the clock.
• Your embassy in Kathmandu, and register with its travel alerts if it offers them.
• Nepal's country code is +977, and mobiles are 10 digits.
• Leave your route and dates with someone at home before any trek. If you go missing, that document is the search.