AKRA, Ghana (AP) – All eight people were killed in the crash of a Ghanaian military helicopter on Wednesday, including the West African country’s defense minister and other senior officials, the government said.
Garnia’s army said the helicopter took off from the capital Accra in the morning, heading northwest northwest and inside towards the gold mining area of Ooasi in the Ashanti region as it left the radar. The wreckage was later discovered in the Ashanti area.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known, and the military said an investigation was underway.
Defense Minister Edward Oman Boama and Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammad were killed along with the ruling party of the National Democratic Congress, the chief advisor to the national security adviser, and the vice-chairman of the crew.
Mourners gathered at Boama’s residence and party headquarters, and the Ghanaian government described the clash as a “national tragedy.”
State media reported that the aircraft are Z-9 helicopters and are often used for transport and medical evacuation.
Online videos from the crash site show fires in the forest as some citizens are surrounded to help.
Wednesday’s crash was one of Ghana’s worst air disasters in over a decade. In May 2014, a service helicopter crashed off the coast, killing at least three people. In 2012, a freight plane covered the Accra runway and crashed into a bus full of passengers, killing at least 10 people.
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Chinedu Asadu contributed from Dakar, Senegal
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AP’s Africa coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
