Kumasi: Some residents in Kumasi and its environs have expressed shock over the tragic death of five government officials and three military officers in the Wednesday helicopter crash in the Ashanti Region. The tragic incident, which occurred in a forest reserve at Brofoyedu Sikaman in the Adansi South District, on Wednesday afternoon, took the lives of eight officials including Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, Minister for Defence and Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, who were attending an official duty at Obuasi.
According to Ghana News Agency, the other officials were Dr. Samuel Sarpong, a Vice Chairman of NDC, Alhaji Muniru Lumina, Acting Deputy National Security Coordinator, Mr. Samuel Aboagye, former NDC Parliamentary Candidate for Obuasi East, Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, Flying Officer Twum Ampadu, and Sergeant Ernest Addo. The residents, who expressed profound sorrow on various radio stations in the Kumasi metropolis, said they received the news of the helicopter crash and the subsequent tragic death of the officials with shock and dismay.
They remarked that such a horrific incident had further dimmed the mood of all Ghanaians, who were already reeling in grief following the sudden death of one of the country's highlife music icons, Mr. Charles Kwadwo Fosu, alias Dady Lumba, who was a son of Asanteman. "We have not finished mourning Dady Lumba, and this tragedy had happened here in the Ashanti region," some of them stated.
Some of them referred to Dr. Samuel Sarpong, who was a former mayor of Kumasi and a former Ashanti Regional Minister, and paid a tribute to him for contributing to the development and progress of the region. They prayed for the souls of the departed and asked that God would give them a resting place.
