Ghana’s government has confirmed that a tragic helicopter crash has killed eight people, including two senior ministers. Among the victims were defence minister Edward Omane Boamah and environment minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed. Also on board were the vice-chair of the ruling National Democratic Congress, a senior national security adviser and the helicopter’s crew members.The military reported that the helicopter took off on Wednesday morning from the capital, Accra and was going to Obuasi, a gold-mining area in the Ashanti region, but later went off the radar. The exact cause of the crash is still under investigation.The aircraft involved was a Z-9 utility helicopter, commonly used for transportation and medical evacuations. The government has called the incident a “national tragedy.”This marks one of Ghana’s worst aviation disasters in over a decade. In May 2014, a service helicopter crashed off the coast that killed at least three people. In 2021, a cargo plane overran the runway in Accra and crashed into a bus full of passengers, killing at least 10 people.