On February 3, Lu Wen, a 26-year-old graduate student at Fudan University, packed his last luggage for a trip to Nepal's Mount Everest region. At half past five in the afternoon, he sent a WeChat message to his father Lu Huaimin: "Dad, don't worry, the travel insurance has also been bought." Along with it, there was also a screenshot of the insurance policy of "Meiya Le Travel Asia Travel Insurance (Asia Upgrade Plan)" purchased by Lu Wen on Alipay.
Lu Huaimin clicked on the insurance policy purchased by his son, carefully checked the introduction of this insurance on the page, and found nothing unusual, so he replied to his son with confidence: "Take care of yourself." ”
Ruben sheaths his backpack and embarks on his journey to Nepal. But the father and son didn't expect that when Ruben was sitting on the plane to Nepal, the electronic file of this policy was sent to Ruben's mobile phone, and the "coverage area" column reads "Asia (except Nepal)"!
What Lu Huaimin didn't expect was that this trip to Nepal would become his son's death journey.
▲The electronic file of the Leven insurance policy shows that the coverage area does not include Nepal provided by the respondent
Enthusiastic travelers rescued him
At 2:55 a.m. on 4 February, Reuven's plane landed in Nepal. He reported his father's safety as soon as possible.
Lu Huaimin said that although he was also worried, his son had already had two previous experiences of trekking in Nepal and once in Tibet, so his son chose to go to Nepal's Everest base camp again for a mountaineering trip (EBC route), and he also respected his son's hobby.
Lu Huaimin said that his son was originally scheduled to officially start climbing the mountain on February 5, but due to weather and other factors, his son's trip began on February 6. However, on the afternoon of February 11, on the way back, Levin had an unexpected situation such as high reaction. At a distance of 900 meters from the hotel, Levin slumped on the side of the road after sending a distress signal with a signal light above his head.
▲On the platform where Ruben purchased insurance, there is no "excluding Nepal" in the introduction of the purchased insurance products
Mr. Huang was an enthusiastic traveler who participated in the rescue of Leven at that time. He recalled to Red Star News the process of rescuing Lu Wen. "At about 5:30 p.m. on the 11th, I was climbing the last steep slope to Gokyo Lake, about two or three hundred meters away from the hotel where I stayed that day. At that time, I was taking a photo with a fellow traveler at the lake, and when we saw lights flickering on the other side of the lake, we thought it was a local hunting, so we didn't pay attention to it. As soon as we arrived at the hotel, we heard that a group of travelers had just sent out a distress signal, and a group of travelers who were resting in the hotel went to the rescue. Mr. Huang said that after a while, he saw about six or seven enthusiastic travelers helping Lu Wen into the hotel, and they first put him in the lobby to rest, and then gave him some hot water and liquid food. When he had recovered his strength, everyone helped him back to his room to rest. ”
Mr. Huang's room is diagonally opposite Lu Wen's room, so he and some enthusiastic travelers will take turns to check on Lu Wen's situation in the evening. "In the evening I saw that although his face was a little puffy and his speech was weak, he was conscious. ”
On February 12, Mr. Huang continued to go out to climb the mountain with his friends, and after returning to the hotel in the afternoon, he went to check on Lu Wen's situation again, "His state is relatively stable, the communication is smooth, the consciousness is clear, we fed him some vegetable porridge, hot tea, and he also let us take the physical energy supplement powder from the backpack to drink, and his food consumption for dinner that day was okay." ”
After repeated communication, the climber had passed away by the time the helicopter arrived
The situation began to take a turn for the worse on the night of 12 February. Mr. Huang recalled that that night, Mr. Huang went to check on Lu Wen's situation again. "I saw him spread out his clothes and his hands were a little cold. Because of the more nutrient solution, his sleeping bag and clothes were wet, so we changed his clothes and replaced him with a dry sleeping bag. He also speaks much slower than during the day. He told me that he had AIG insurance and gave me his father's phone number and his passport number. Due to the power outage caused by the failure of the Namchi line at that time, most places on EBC Mountain have not had a signal since February 5th, so I decided to go down the mountain after dawn and find a place with a signal to call for help. Mr. Huang said.
Mr. Huang told Red Star News that there were several travelers who were going down the mountain that day, and everyone looked for signals and contacted the insurance company. "Everyone is carrying dozens of pounds of bags and trying their best to run, in order to let Xiaolu get rescued as soon as possible. ”
After several twists and turns, Mr. Huang got in touch with the insurance company, "When the other party replied that according to Lu Wen's passport number, the product he purchased did not include Nepal's rescue, I was confused." Mr. Huang did not have time to argue with the other party, and proposed to arrange a helicopter rescue first, but the insurance company refused. "In the end, I asked them to provide the phone number of the helicopter rescue company directly, which can be paid for at their own expense, and it is important to save people. ”
At 13:30 p.m. on February 13, Lu Huaimin received a call from Mr. Huang and learned about his son's situation. "Mr. Huang told me that he asked a friend who had a signal to help him contact AIG Insurance first, and the emergency customer service of the other party said that he would follow up on the matter immediately, and today (February 13) the helicopter should send him to Kadu (Kathmandu), and your son is safe. ”
After that, Lu Huaimin received a call from the helicopter company, the other party spoke English, and Lu Huaimin could not communicate with the other party. At 15:19 on February 13, Lu Huaimin received another call from Meiya Company, saying that Lu Wen's insurance did not include emergency rescue. "They asked me to remit US dollars to their company's account, it was the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, the nearby bank closed early, and I didn't have a foreign currency account, so I didn't know where to send money to them. Lu Huaimin hoped on the phone that the insurance company would pay the expenses in advance and find a way to remit the money by himself.
Just when Lu Huaimin was anxious and desperate, at 16:15 on February 13, Meiya Company called again and said that Lu Wen's insurance did not include Nepal. Lu Huaimin told Red Star News that he explained over and over again on the phone: "There is no dollar at the moment, otherwise I will pay RMB, but I was refused." He told Meiya that there were also obstacles in communication between him and Nepal Helicopter Rescue Company, "The child also bought your (Meiya Company's) insurance, (Nepal) is not insured but is also your customer, I hope to pay in advance, save people first, and then say, I will definitely not pay the debt." But Meiya refused, saying that it could only help contact (the helicopter rescue company). After that, Lu Huaimin tried to communicate with the helicopter company through WeChat, but to no avail. In the end, he finally found a friend who knew English to help communicate, and the staff of the helicopter rescue company said that Lu Huaimin should pay for it before the plane took off.
Time passed minute by minute, and his son's life was also passing little by little, Lu Huaimin kept begging the other party on the phone to save people first and find a way to send money to the past.
The stalemate lasted until 16:29 p.m. on February 13, when the helicopter finally took off. At 16:48, when the helicopter arrived in the area where Leven was, the helicopter could not land because of the fog on the mountain, so it had to return and come back the next day.
At around 0:30 local time on February 14, Ruben stopped breathing. At 7:30 a.m. on the 15th, a helicopter arrived at the hotel and transported Ruwen's body down the mountain.
Nepal is not included in the insurance area
"When I got the call and was told that my son's insurance didn't cover Nepal, my mind went blank. Lu Huaimin said that his son has the habit of buying insurance before every trip. I quickly opened the app where my son bought the insurance, and checked it carefully, and there was indeed no reminder on the page that Nepal was not covered by insurance, but emphasized 24-hour emergency assistance. ”
Lu Huaimin told Red Star News that after his son's death, when he checked the specific content of the insurance policy on his son's mobile phone, he found that the "coverage area" column in the policy read: Asia (except Nepal).
▲On the platform where Ruben purchased insurance, there is no "excluding Nepal" in the introduction of the purchased insurance
Why does there not appear any reminder on the online page of the insurance product that the insurance area does not include Nepal, but the contract says "except Nepal"? In this regard, Red Star News found that after checking the APP where Lu Wen purchased insurance before his death, there was indeed no reminder about "Nepal is not included in the insurance area" on the homepage.
Why does this important information not appear on the homepage of the product introduction? The customer service staff replied to the reporter: "At present, the product introduction cannot be fully displayed, and the policy coverage area is listed without Nepal after purchase, and the policy will be listed after purchase." ”
Subsequently, Red Star News found on the WeChat platform that it was also the introduction of the insurance project of "Meiya Le Youyou Asia Travel Insurance (Asia Upgrade Plan)", and found that the introduction of the coverage area indicated that Nepal was not in the coverage area.
▲For the same insurance product, the other platform marks the coverage area "excluding Nepal" in a conspicuous position
Red Star News also searched for "Meiya Joyful Travel Asia Travel Insurance (Asia Upgrade Plan)" on Ctrip, showing that the "Joyful Travel Overseas Travel Insurance" product of AIG Insurance is prominently placed on its homepage, and the applicable destination column reads: Overseas Asia (excluding Nepal).
"Why is there such a big difference in the introduction of the effective area of the same insurance product on different APP platforms and in the underwriting effective area?" After being rejected by the insurance company, Lu Huaimin reported this problem to the insurance company, and the insurance company said that it was not clear about this situation and would investigate. As of the time of press time, Lu Huaimin has not received feedback from the insurance company.
Recalling the last time he saw his son, Lu Huaimin couldn't cry: "I saw that there were tear stains in the corners of my son's eyes, and I wanted to help him wipe them off, but I couldn't wipe off his tears with a whole bottle of mineral water." He was only 26 years old, and he didn't know until he died, the reason why he was not rescued in time was that there was a problem with the insurance, and I knew that he was unwilling to leave like this!"
Lu Huaimin said that he would spend the rest of his life seeking an explanation for his son's death. At the same time, he plans to use the money he has saved for his son to set up a fund to pay for the rescue expenses in advance for the travelers who are in danger and need rescue.
(In order to protect the privacy of the parties, the names of the characters in the article have been changed)
[Source: Red Star News]