Ghana’s ministers of defence and environment and six other people have died when a military helicopter crashed in the central Ashanti region.

Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment, Science and Technology Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, 50, were killed in the crash, which Chief of Staff Julius Debrah described as a “national tragedy”.

The Z9 helicopter, carrying three crew and five passengers, came down in a dense forest as it was flying from the capital, Accra, to the town of Obuasi for an event to tackle illegal mining. There were no survivors.

The eight bodies have been retrieved from the wreckage and transported to Accra in coffins draped in the Ghanaian flag.

A solemn ceremony was held at the Air Force Base to receive them.

Plans to bury the Muslims among the deceased on Thursday have been postponed pending full identification of the bodies. The government has yet to announce the funeral arrangements.

The authorities have not confirmed the cause of the crash but the Ghanaian military said investigations had been launched.

Ghana’s meteorological agency had forecast unusually cold weather for August, with recent rains and light showers causing foggy conditions in many forest areas. Local farmers near the crash site reported morning fog as the helicopter flew overhead.

One eyewitness told the BBC the helicopter was flying at an “unusually low altitude” and the weather was bad.

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

“That’s when I realised 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 got to the scene there was “no-one to be rescued”.

This is the most deadly of three separate emergency incidents involving Ghana Air Force helicopters in recent years.

In 2020, a Ghana Air Force Harbin Z-9 helicopter made an emergency landing near Tamale Airport, and last year, another Ghana Air Force helicopter made an emergency landing at Bonsukrom in Ghana’s Western Region.

Many Ghanaians are shocked by the news and still struggling to come to terms with the news. Images purportedly showing the charred remains of the helicopter have been circulating on social media.

President John Dramani Mahama has suspended all his scheduled activities for the rest of the week and declared three days of mourning starting from Thursday.

The government, through the president’s chief of staff, directed the country’s flags to fly at half-mast. He also extended condolences to “the servicemen who died in service to the country,” on behalf of President Mahama and the government.

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

The crew members were named as Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, Flying Officer Manin Twum-Ampadu, and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah.

President Mahama was feeling “down, down emotionally”, Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu was cited as saying by news agency AFP.

Boamah served under Mahama’s previous government as communications minister and before that he was minister of environment. As defence minster he tackled jihadist activity that was brewing in the northern border in Burkina Faso.

In 2022, a France-based NGO, Promediation, said its research showed that jihadist groups had recruited between 200 and 300 young Ghanaians.

Violence in the area has also been on the rise, with concerns that jihadists may be trying to exploit communal in-fighting between rival communities in northern Ghana.

Boamah’s book A Peaceful Man In An African Democracy, about former president John Atta Mills, was due to come out later in the year.

Muhammed was at the forefront of the battle against illegal gold mining, which has wrecked the environment and contaminated rivers and lakes.

Protests against the practice, known locally as Galamsey, peaked during Mahama’s run for the presidency last year.