A military helicopter crash in Ghana has killed eight, including the defense and environment ministers.
The aircraft went off radar en route to Obuasi before being found in a forest.
A military helicopter crash in Ghana on Wednesday has killed all eight people on board, including the country’s ministers of defense and environment, the government has confirmed.
According to the Ghana Armed Forces, the aircraft took off from the capital, Accra, in the morning and was flying toward Obuasi, a gold-mining town in the Ashanti region. The helicopter later went off the radar. Its wreckage was eventually discovered in the Adansi area of the same region.
The exact cause of the crash is not yet known, but the military has launched an investigation.
Among those who lost their lives were Defense Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed. Others who died included a top adviser on national security, the vice chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), and members of the flight crew.
Following the news, mourners gathered at Boamah’s home and at the NDC headquarters. The Ghanaian government called the crash a “national tragedy.”
State media reported that the helicopter involved was a Z-9, a model commonly used for transport and medical evacuation missions.
