Just in: Two Ghana ministers, six others die in military helicopter crash

Just in: Two Ghana ministers, six others die in military helicopter crash

 

Two Ghanaian ministers are among eight people killed after a military helicopter crashed in the southern Ashanti region on Wednesday.

The Chief of Staff to the President, Julius Debrah, confirmed this and named the ministers affected as Defence, Edward Omane Boamah, and his Environment counterpart, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed.

They were among the five passengers on board the helicopter, as well as three crew members.

Ghana’s Armed Forces said earlier on Wednesday that it had lost contact with a Z9 helicopter that was en route from the capital of Accra to Obuasi, a mining town in southern Ghana.

The chief of staff said in a video statement that the crash was a “national tragedy” and announced that flags would fly half mast until further notice.

He said that Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna, Ghana’s acting deputy national security coordinator, Samuel Sarpong, the vice chairman of the National Democratic Congress and Samuel Aboagye, a former parliamentary candidate, were the three other passengers killed in the crash.

The helicopter’s crew were named as squadron leader Peter Bafemi Anala, flying officer Malin Twum-Ampadu and Sgt. Ernest Addo Mensah.