The helicopter had taken off from Accra, the capital, en route to a mining conference when it went “off the radar,” the armed forces said.

Defense Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed – and seven other people died in a helicopter crash on Wednesday, the state-owned Ghana News Agency reported.

A military helicopter crashed in Ghana on Wednesday, killing all eight people on board, including the West African country's defense and environment ministers and two other top officials, the government said.