The Black Box of the military helicopter that crashed at Sikaman in the Adanse Akrofuom district of Ashanti has been recovered. This was possible through a frantic search by a joint team of Ghana Armed Forces and Ghana Aviation Authority officials.
The team was deployed early morning of Thursday August 7, 2025, to the scene of the accident at the summit of a mountain, about one and a half hour walk from the Sikaman-Brofoywdru community located at the base of it.
The Chairman of the Ashanti Regional Security Council, REGSEC, Dr. Frank Amoakohene, who is also the Regional Minister, disclosed this after receiving official briefing from the search party. Experts in Aviation and security say recovery of the Black Box is very crucial in the investigation into, at least circumstances immediately prior to the helicopter crashing. This is because the Box is made to record what happened, including interactions among the crew members and passengers on board the plane before the disaster struck.
The Box has since been sent to Accra to allow for the investigations to continue. At about 10 am on Wednesday August 6, 2025, a helicopter belonging to the Ghana Armed Forces crashed on a mountain at Sikaman-Brofoyedru in the Adanse Akrofuom district of Ashanti. The helicopter was only minutes away from reaching its destination at Obuasi where the passengers led by the Minister of Defence, Dr. Edward Omane Boama, were to participate in the launch of a new gold mining programme known as ‘Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development code-named ‘rCOMSDEP’.
All eight persons on board died on the spot while the main frame of the helicopter got burnt beyond recovery. Meanwhile, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Dr. Frank Amoakohene, has, in accordance with Asante custom and tradition, visited the private and family houses of the late Samuel Sarpong, a former Ashanti Regional Minister, at Atasemanso and Juaben, as well as the Obuasi family House of another victim of the plain crash, Samuel Aboagye, who was the Deputy Director General of the National Disaster Management Organization, NADMO.
The Regional Minister told the bereaved families that he was on an errand by President John Mahama to confirm the news of the passing of their relatives through the helicopter crash and why they were traveling from Accra to Obuasi. Dr. Amoakohene extended the condolences of the President and government to the bereaved families.
