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.

The Ghanaian military said the helicopter took off in the morning from the capital, Accra, and was heading northwest into the interior toward the gold-mining area of Obuasi in the Ashanti region.