The cause of the crash, one of the worst air disasters in the country in over a decade, wasn't immediately known.

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.