ZIMBABWEAN authorities have been reluctant to share material with aircraft investigators from Finland regarding the Masvingo aircraft accident which occurred on 23 November, leaving the Finnish authorities to turn to South Africa and the United States for help.

Among the victims were four top executives from Finnish stock-listed companies. Among the passengers confirmed dead was 52-year-old Pekka Ojanpää, chief executive of the maintenance services and circular economy firm Lassila & Tikkanoja.

Another of the crash victims was 51-year-old Heikki Vappula, director of forestry company UPM’s Biorefining business unit.

All of the Finns on board the ill-fated Cessna S206 aircraft were said to be men in their 50s. The pilot, a Zimbabwean national, also died in the crash.

The aircraft in question belonged to Buffalo Range (Pvt) Limited.

Finland’s Safety Investigation Authority called Otkes had not yet received any information from Zimbabwean officials about the crash, nearly a month after the accident. This is despite several repeated requests for Zimbabwean authorities to cooperate, Otkes director Veli-Pekka Nurmi has said.

According to Nurmi, it does not seem likely that Otkes personnel will travel to the crash site, which is in rugged terrain, for an investigation. He noted that if the plane was manufactured in the US for example, investigators are likely to seek information in that direction.

The Otkes director said that it is quite typical for officials from different countries to cooperate on a flight crash investigation. He explained that the state in which the aircraft is registered and operated as well as the country where it was designed and manufactured all have a right to appoint a representative to take part in the investigation.

“And then there are participating states which get involved if their nationals are victims. This option only provides limited access to information. The right is restricted to information about the victims,” Nurmi pointed out.

Since Zimbabwean authorities have not been cooperating, Finnish accident investigators have turned to South Africans to help investigate the plane crash that killed four Finnish businessmen, writes regional daily Aamulehti.

Finland’s Safety Investigation Authority (Otkes) said Zimbabwean authorities have been reluctant to share material concerning the fatal accident in the mountainous Masvingo province. “We as well as our American colleagues have tried to get information from Zimbabwe – to no avail. That’s why we have now asked the South Africans to help us,” said Otkes director Veli-Pekka Nurmi.

American officials are involved in the investigation as the ill-fated Cessna S206 air plane was manufactured in the United States. Information-sharing on international aircraft accidents tends to be easy, according to Nurmi, but in this case that has not happened.

“To our knowledge, local authorities are still investigating the crash.”

The light aircraft was en route to Victoria Falls when it crashed at Chamanjenjere Hills, killing all four passengers and the pilot, who was accompanying the group on a hunting trip.

Nurmi said that he had seen photos of the crash site in media reports and noted that they do not show anything unusual.

“Pretty typical traces of a light airplane crash. That’s what it looks like,” he said, adding that Cessna aircraft are reliable and widely used.

He said that what can make a difference in aviation is how aircraft are maintained and serviced.

“Even good planes can malfunction if they are neglected and vice versa,” Nurmi declared.

ZRP Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi in November said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was working with the families of the deceased in arranging repatriation of the bodies.

Immediately after the crash, Mr Tawanda Gusha, the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) Director Airports, said the CAAZ had dispatched inspectors to the crash site to carry out possible investigations as to what could have led to the fatal crash. No updates as to the outcome of the investigations were released, Finnish officials say.

Plane crashes are a rare phenomenon in Zimbabwe let alone in these parts of the country. Before yesterday’s crash, the most recent had occurred in March last year near the Zimbabwean-Mozambique border where six business executives from Mozambique died when their plane crashed somewhere along Vumba mountains. — ZOOMZimbabwe