Ghana ministers among eight killed in helicopter crash

The crash of a military helicopter in Ghana killed all eight people aboard, including the West African country’s defence and environment ministers and other top officials, the government has said.

Ghana’s military said the helicopter took off in the morning from the capital Accra and was heading north west into the interior towards the gold-mining area of Obuasi in the Ashanti region when it went off the radar.

The wreckage was later found in the Adansi area of Ashanti.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known, and the military said an investigation was under way.

Defence minister Edward Omane Boamah and environment minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed were killed alongside the vice-chair of the National Democratic Congress ruling party, a top national security adviser, and crew members.

Ghana’s government described the crash as a “national tragedy”.

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

An online video of the crash site shows debris on fire in a forest as some citizens circle around to help.

Wednesday’s crash was one of Ghana’s worst air disasters in more than a decade.

In May 2014, a service helicopter crashed off the coast, killing at least three people.

In 2012, a cargo plane overran the runway in Accra and crashed into a bus full of passengers, killing at least 10 people.