Death of 4 Finns in Zimbabwe plane crash confirmed

The Zimbabwean authority on Saturday confirmed the death of four Finnish tourists and the pilot of the small plane in the crash took place at Masvingo Province in Zimbabwe on Friday.

The Ministry of Foreign Affair in a twitter post in the afternoon said the Zimbabwean authority confirmed that four Finns and the pilot died in the crash.

The Ministry, however, did not disclose the identity of the victims due to privacy policy, said the twitter post.

Meanwhile, UPM informed on Saturday that the Executive Vice President of UPM Biorefining, Heikki Vappula believed to have died in a plane crash.

Vappula is believed to have died in a plane crash while on a private trip in Zimbabwe on Friday, said a press release issued by UMP on Saturday.

The authorities have confirmed that his name appears on the passenger list of the crashed plane.

Heikki Vappula was 51 years old. He joined UPM in 2006 as Senior Vice President of Global Sourcing. During 2010-2013 he acted as the President of Energy & Pulp Business Group.

Since 2013 he held his current position. He was also a member of the Board of Finnish Forest Industries Federation. Before joining the forest industry Heikki had a successful career in Nokia Corporation for 13 years.

"We owe a debt of gratitude to Heikki who was a visionary and inspiring executive, always hungry for results. His insights and energy will be greatly missed by colleagues as well as business partners around the world," said Jussi Pesonen, President and CEO of UPM.

"On behalf of the Board of Directors and the entire Executive Team, I wish to extend our heartfelt condolences to Heikki's family. We wish everybody to respect the privacy of Heikki's family. This tragedy escapes all words," said the CEO.

Earlier, on Thursday local and international media published conflicting number of the death in the accident.

Five people including four Finnish tourists were reportedly killed when a small plane was crashed at Masvingo Province in Zimbabwe on Friday said ZimLive.com, an English language daily from Zimbabwe while the international media reported that the human causality in the accident was three without mentioning their nationalities.

Another news site Journal du Cameroun.com, however said that one of the victims feared to be Finnish national.

News agency Xinhua adds: Paul Nyathi, spokesman for the Zimbabwean police, told a Finnish language newspaper Helsingin Sanomat the nationalities were confirmed on the basis of passports found on the site.

Finnish media reported that the Finns were on a tourist hunting tour to East Africa. In addition to the four Finnish passengers, one local pilot was also killed.

Travel industry sources told Helsingin Sanomat that some dozens of Finns purchase African hunting excursions annually. The price ranges from a few thousands euros to tens of thousands. Finns usually obtain licences to hunt elephants and buffalos.

It is common that privately owned aircraft or helicopters are chartered. Zimbabwean police told Finland's national broadcaster Yle that the aircraft had taken off at the Buffalo Range airfield near Chiredz and was to fly to Victoria Falls.

Finland has no actual diplomatic representation in Zimbabwe except an honorary consul, and Finnish embassy in Lusaka, Zambia has been in contact with Zimbabwe.