Ghana's Defence, Environment ministers killed in helicopter crash

The chopper dropped off the radar on Wednesday afternoo. [Representational image, Canva]

Ghana's Defence and Environment ministers were killed in a helicopter crash Wednesday, the Ghanaian presidency said, hours after the armed forces reported a chopper carrying three crew and five passengers dropped off the radar.

Edward Omane Boamah became President John Mahama's Defence Minister earlier this year, shortly after Mahama's swearing-in in January.

Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed was serving as the Minister of Environment, Science, and Technology. Everyone on board was killed in the accident, authorities said.

"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," said Mahama's chief of staff Julius Debrah.

Boamah was helming Ghana's defence ministry at a time when jihadist activity across its northern border in Burkina Faso had become increasingly restive.

While Ghana has so far avoided a jihadist spillover from the Sahel, unlike neighbours Togo and Benin, observers have warned of increased arms trafficking and of militants from Burkina Faso crossing the porous border to use Ghana as a rear base.

A medical doctor by training, Boamah's career in government included stints as communications minister during Mahama's previous 2012-2017 tenure. Before that, he was the deputy minister for the environment.

The Ghanaian Armed Forces had reported earlier Wednesday that an air force helicopter had fallen off radar after taking off from Accra just after 9:00 am. It had been headed towards the town of Obuasi, northwest of the capital.

The statement had said that three crew and five passengers were aboard, without specifying at the time that the ministers were among them.