A military helicopter crashed in Ghana, killing all eight people on board, including two top ministers and two other officials.
The country’s military said the helicopter took off from the capital, Accra, and was heading northwest towards the Ashanti region when it went off the radar.
The wreckage was later found in the Adansi area of Ashanti.
Defense Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed were killed, as well as Samuel Sarpong, vice-chair of the National Democratic Congress ruling party, Muniru Mohammed, a top national security adviser, and the four crew members.
Fotoage from the crash site shows debris on fire in a forest as some people circle around to help.
The crash was one of Ghana’s worst air disasters in more than a decade.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known, and the military said an investigation was underway.
Mourners gathered at Edward Boamah’s residence as well as at the party’s headquarters.
The Ghanaian 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.
In May 2014, a service helicopter crashed off Ghana’s coast, killing at least three people.
In 2012, a cargo plane overran the runway in Accra, the capital, and crashed into a bus full of passengers, killing at least 10 people.
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