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.

Top Ghanaian government officials and service personnel were killed in a helicopter crash on Wednesday, Aug. 6. “I have the unpleasant duty, suddenly, to announce a national tragedy involving the crash of a military helicopter this morning,” Debrah said. A cause of the crash has not yet been announced.

Ghana’s defense and environment ministers are among eight people killed after a military helicopter crashed in the southern Ashanti region on Wednesday, according to the chief of staff to the Ghanian president.