The helicopter crash in Ghana kills the Ministers of Defense and the Environment and 6 other people

Accra, Ghana – A military helicopter crashed in Ghana on Wednesday, killing the eight people on board, including the Ministers of Defense and the Environment of the West African country and two other senior officials, the government said.

The accident was one of Ghana’s worst air disasters in more than a decade.

The Ghanaian army said that the helicopter had taken off in the morning from the capital, Accra, and headed northwest inside towards the Obuasi gold extraction area in the Ashanti region when it left the radar. The wreckage was later found in the Adansi region of Ashanti.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known and the army said that an investigation was underway.

The Minister of Defense Edward Omane Boamah and the Minister of the Environment Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed were killed, as well as Samuel Sarpong, vice-president of the party in power of the Democratic Congress; Muniru Mohammed, a high national security advisor; and the four crew members.

The people in mourning gathered at the Boamah residence, as well as at the party’s headquarters, and the government of Ghana described the accident as a “national tragedy”.

State media reported that the plane was a Z-9 helicopter which is often used for transport and medical evacuation.

An online video of the accident site shows fire debris in a forest while some people run to help.

In May 2014, a service helicopter crashed off Ghana, killing at least three people. In 2012, a freight plane invaded the track in Accra, the capital, and crashed on a bus full of passengers, killing at least 10 people.