Accra — Ghana’s defence and environment ministers died in a military helicopter crash on Wednesday in the southern Ashanti region along with three other officials and three air force crew, the government said.
Julius Debrah, President John Mahama’s chief of staff, told a press conference that the crash in which defence minister Edward Omane Boamah and environment, science & technology minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed died in the crash.
“The president and government extend our condolences and sympathies to the families of our comrades and the servicemen who died in service to the country,” Debrah said.
Authorities did not immediately give an explanation for what might have caused the crash.
Earlier Ghana’s armed forces said radar contact had been lost with a Z9 air force helicopter.
Boamah, a former communications minister, was tapped to serve as defence minister in January after Mahama returned to power. His replacement will take on a complex security file that includes both external and internal threats.
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.
It is also battling a rise in illegal gold mining. Mahama has set up a special task force to combat the scrouge.
A spokesperson for Mahama said last month that Ghana had deployed more soldiers to a northeastern region where a long-running conflict over chieftancy has fuelled recent violence, including attacks on schools.
Reuters
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