Ghana’s defence, environment ministers killed in helicopter crash
A helicopter crash has killed eight people including the nation’s defence and environment ministers, according to Ghana’s government, Al Jazeera reports.
Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed were among the victims of the crash in the southern Ashanti region of the country, said Julius Debrah, chief of staff to President John Mahama, on Wednesday.
“The president and the government extend their condolences and solidarity to the families of our comrades and soldiers who fell in their service to the nation,” said Debrah.
Also among the victims were Alhaji Mohammad Muniru Limuna, deputy national security coordinator and former minister of agriculture, and Samuel Sarpong, vice chairman of Mahama’s National Democratic Congress (NDC) party.
The Ghanaian Air Force had reported earlier Wednesday that a military helicopter had disappeared from radar shortly after taking off from Accra at around 9am (local time and GMT), bound for Obuasi, northwest of the capital.
Debrah announced that flags would be flown at half-mast.
The presidency said that Mahama had suspended all his official activities for the day.
Earlier, it was reported a Delta Air Lines flight traveling from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Amsterdam was forced to make an emergency landing in Minneapolis after encountering severe turbulence.
