Helicopter crash in Ghana kills defence, environment ministers and senior officials
The military says the helicopter took off on Wednesday morning from the capital, Accra, toward Obuasi, a gold-mining area in the Ashanti region, but went off the radar.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known.
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.
State media said the Z-9 helicopter is often used as a utility helicopter often used for transport and medical evacuation.
Ghana's government described the crash as a 'national tragedy'.
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 2021, a cargo plane overran the runway in Accra and crashed into a bus full of passengers, killing at least 10 people.
Like other coastal West African countries, Ghana faces threats from Islamist groups active in the Sahel that have tried to push south from landlocked Burkina Faso and Mali where they stage frequent deadly attacks.
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