Following the tragic helicopter crash in Ghana that led to the death of the country’s gallant servants including government officials on Wednesday, 6th August 2025, the Secretary-General of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat has expressed the secretariat’s deepest condolences to the people of Ghana in such difficult moments of grief.
The statement released by the communications department of the AfCFTA Secretariat read:
“The Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, H.E. Wamkele Mene, has received with deep sorrow the news of the tragic helicopter crash in the Ashanti Region of the Republic of Ghana, which claimed the lives of eight people, including Ghana’s Minister of Defence, Hon. Edward Omane Boamah, and the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Hon. Alhaji Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed.
On behalf of the Secretariat, H.E. Wamkele Mene conveys his sincere condolences to H.E. President John Dramani Mahama, the Government and people of Ghana, and to the bereaved families affected by this profound loss.
He further expresses the Secretariat’s solidarity with the Ghana Armed Forces during this period of national mourning.
H.E. Wamkele Mene stated: “We mourn alongside the people of Ghana and extend our deepest sympathies to the families enduring this painful loss. The candle may go out, but the memory of its light will remain. May, those who lost their lives be remembered with honour, and may they rest in peace.”
Meanwhile Ghana’s flag has being flying at half-mast nationwide and at the Africa Trade House, where the AfCFTA Secretariat is hosted.
On Wednesday, August 6, 2025, Ghana’s Minister of Defense, Dr. Edward Kofi Omane Boamah, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology Hon. Alhaji Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed (MP) and six others died when a military helicopter crashed in the Ashanti region in a helicopter crash that has since plunged the entire nation into a state of grief.
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.