President John Mahama promises a full investigation

Ghana President John Mahama has promised a full investigation into the helicopter’s crash on Wednesday, which killed two state ministers and six other people.

Defense Minister Edward Omarne Boam and Minister of Environment, Science and Technology Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, 50, they were among the killed when a military plane crashed in the central Ashanti area.

In a television address to the nation, Mahama said the crash was a “personal loss” for him.

“I shared a relationship with many of the dead. The nation is grieving,” he said.

The Z9 helicopter, carrying three crews and five passengers, came down to a dense forest while flying from the capital, Acra, to the city of Grabrassi for an event for dealing with illegal yield. There were no survivors.

The bodies of the eight died were restored from the site of the crash, and the samples were sent to South Africa for forensic identification and analysis.

Ghana Deputy Coordinator and former Agriculture Minister Alhaji Muniru Mohammed was also among the dead, along with Samuel Sarpong, Vice-Chairman of the ruling party of the National Democratic Congress.

The state funeral will be held on August 15 for the victims, AFP reported.

Authorities did not confirm the cause of the crash, but Mahama confirmed that the flight data and voice records of the cockpit had been extracted and that Ghana’s armed forces “began a complete and transparent investigation”.

The Ghana Meteorological Agency predicts unusually cold weather for August, with recent rains and light showers causing foggy conditions in many forest areas. Local farmers near the site of the crash reported a morning fog when a helicopter flies from above.

One obviousness told the BBC that the helicopter was flying “unusually low altitude” and the weather was bad.

He said he heard the sound of the helicopter passing by it, followed by “loud sound” and then a “explosion”.

“Then I realized that the helicopter had exploded. So I hurried to the place to see if I could find survivors,” he said.

The farmer said, when he reached the scene, there was no “no one to save.”

It is the most deadly of three separate emergency incidents, including Ghana Air Force helicopters in recent years.

In 2020, the Ghana Harbin Z-9 Air Force helicopter made an emergency landing near Tamale Airport, and last year another Ghana Air Force helicopter made an emergency landing in the bonzicrom in the western region of Ghana.

Many Ghanaks are shocked by the news and are still struggling to deal with the news. The images that are alleged that the charred remains of the helicopter are distributed on social media.

President Mahama has stopped all his planned activities for the rest of the week and announced three days of mourning, starting from Thursday.

The country’s flags fly the half-mach.

The crew members were declared the leader of the squadron Peter Buffreie Anal, the flying officer Manin Divan-Ampadu and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensa.

Boamah served in the previous Mahama government as Minister of Communication and before that he was Minister of Environment. As Minister of Defense, he coped with the jihadist activity, which is boiling at the northern border in Burkina Faso.

In 2022, a non -governmental organization based on France, Promediation, said his research shows that jihadist groups hired between 200 and 300 young Ghanaks.

Violence in the area is also increasing, with fears that jihadists may try to use municipal fights between rival communities in North Ghana.

Boamah’s book peaceful man in African democracy, former President John Ata Mills, had to be released later during the year.

Mohammed was at the forefront of the battle against the illegal extraction of gold, which destroyed the environment and contaminated rivers and lakes.

Protests against the practice, known as Galamasi, reached their peak during Mahama’s running for the presidency last year.