On Wednesday, August 6, 2025, Ghanaians awoke at dawn anticipating a standard, bustling day, unaware that by sundown, they might be plunged right into a nationwide sorrow courtesy of the unending crashes, with the pink, gold and inexperienced nationwide flag ordered to restrict its flapping and shed tears to sign all was not nicely.
Makola was buzzing, a cocktail of smells stuffed the air, and market girls displayed their merchandise.
Nima and Nkrumah Circle have been crammed with a cacophony of distributors shouting their wares, music blaring from stalls and bars, and the fixed sound of auto horns and pedestrian site visitors marked the dense Accra Metropolis.
Elsewhere, the federal government was rolling out its promise of a accountable, sustainable group mining programme in Obuasi, Ghana’s gold hub, to sort out the devastating unlawful mining (galamsey) menace that has turned some cities right into a land flowing with ‘milk’—not the promised land with honey, however poisons able to decimating wildlife.
By noon, a darkish cloud forged its shadow when the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) introduced that its helicopter, carrying 5 authorities officers and three crew en path to the occasion from Accra, the capital, had gone off radar.
Just a few hours later, it emerged that each one occupants had burned past recognition after the plane plunged right into a forest and burst into flames.
The information unfold like wildfire, and inside hours it had reached worldwide wires, drawing tributes from a number of presidents and worldwide organisations in commiseration with a grieving nation.
This isn’t the primary time the nation has been dropped at its knees in wailing and tears. In Ghana, one street crash might document as much as 71 fatalities, a determine that roughly matches street fatalities for a complete yr in different international locations.
These figures usually are not mere statistics however signify breadwinners, lively age teams, energetic human assets and productive brains whose lives finish abruptly.
This report meticulously examines a number of the deadliest crashes to have rocked the nation, drawing on intensive analysis on the topic and options.
Aviation Tragedies
- 2025 Harbin Z-9 Helicopter Crash (8 fatalities):
On August 6, 2025, a Ghana Air Drive Harbin Z-9 helicopter carrying eight folks to an occasion to sort out unlawful mining crashed right into a forested mountainside within the Ashanti Area of Ghana, killing all eight folks on board.
The helicopter’s wreckage was later discovered, with all victims burned past recognition in a post-crash fireplace. The influence left the our bodies charred and dismembered, requiring forensic DNA in South Africa to establish the stays.
Among the many perished souls have been Ghana’s Defence Minister, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, and Setting Minister, Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed.
The others have been the appearing Deputy Nationwide Safety Coordinator, Muniru Mohammed Limuna; Vice Chairman of the governing Nationwide Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Sarpong; former NDC parliamentary candidate for Obuasi East, Samuel Aboagye; Squadron Chief Peter Bafemi Anala; Flying Officer Twum Ampadu; and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah.
President John Mahama had initially been scheduled to attend the occasion, however delegated the ministers to signify him as a consequence of a concurrent event.
The reason for the catastrophe has but to be decided as authorities examine the crash.
- 2014 Oil Rig Helicopter Crash (4 fatalities)
A helicopter contracted by the Russian oil firm Lukoil, carrying eight folks, crashed into the ocean about 20 nautical miles off the coast of Takoradi, killing 4 of them.
The folks on board included Ghanaians, Britons, Nigerians, and French.
4 members of the crew have been rescued by the Ghana Navy with help from oil corporations working in Ghana.
The passengers have been being transported to the Reon Jack, a brand new oil rig contracted by Lukoil that had arrived within the nation to start appraisal and growth of oil discoveries made in 2011.
- 2012 Allied Cargo Airplane Crash (12 fatalities)
Once more, on June 2, 2012, a Nigeria-based Allied Cargo Airline Boeing 727-200 plane, with registration quantity 5NBJN and laden with common items, overshot the Kotoka Worldwide Airport (KIA) runway.
It hit the power’s perimeter fence and crash-landed close to the El Wak Stadium after ramming a Daewoo taxi cab and a Benz 207 passenger bus, killing 10 passengers on board the autos immediately.
Two different folks on the bottom, together with a navy officer who was using a bike, additionally perished.
Nonetheless, the 4 Nigerian crew members of the cargo aircraft survived the crash and have been handled on the 37 Navy Hospital and discharged later.
- 2002 GAF Agusta Bell 412 helicopter crash (5 fatalities)
On March 16, 2002, an Agusta Bell 412 helicopter belonging to the Ghana Armed Forces crashed within the Atiwa Forest of the Jap Area whereas enterprise a medical evacuation mission.
The accident claimed the lives of 5 personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces and two civilians.
The helicopter had taken off from the Air Drive Base in Burma Camp at about 0700 hours with an estimated flight time of about 50 minutes, however crashed on its return to Accra.
- 2000 Ghana Airlink Flight (7 fatalities)
One other calamity was recorded on Monday, June 5, 2000, when an Airlink aircraft, a Fokker 27, on an inside flight from Tamale, crash-landed on the threshold of the runway of the Kotoka Worldwide Airport.
The crew encountered poor climate situations with restricted visibility as a consequence of heavy rainfall. In a nose-down dive, the plane landed arduous on runway 21. Upon influence, the plane broke in two and got here to relaxation.
Based on the Bureau of Plane Accidents Archives, seven folks died and several other others have been injured. The deceased included an American and a Swiss citizen, whereas 46 others survived.
The Swiss citizen, Madam Lanz, labored with the Ghana Institute of Literary and Bible Translation (GILBT). The physique of Kenneth Rossen, the American passenger on board the Airlink flight 200, was flown again dwelling.
The deceased’s daughter, Megan Rossen, who survived the crash, an official of the 37 Navy Hospital, and different relations who flew in, accompanied the physique.
A nine-member board of inquiry, headed by Mr. Alex Sam, a retired pilot and former Managing Director of Ghana Airways, was set as much as examine the reason for the incident.
- 1997 Ghana Air Drive Jet (1 fatality)
The third Could calamity on this sequence occurred on Could 8, 1997.
A Ghana Air Drive jet accompanying then-President Jerry John Rawlings’s plane crashed close to Kotoka Worldwide Airport (KIA) after escorting the president’s aircraft again from Botswana. The crash resulted within the demise of the pilot.
Based on eyewitnesses, because the presidential aircraft touched down at KIA, the Air Drive jet, which appeared to have are available in alongside it, tried unsuccessfully to climb out of an acrobatic dive however apparently misplaced management and crashed close by.
The presidential aircraft then made what was seen as a compelled braking to a cease, seemingly to allow Rawlings and others on the aircraft to sprint out to see what assist they may provide.
Rawlings later joined a rescue staff in a helicopter to find the physique of the late Squadron Chief Samuel Dwamena. Newsmen who joined in an aerial view of the catastrophe spot reported that the aircraft had exploded, scattering its elements over an unlimited space.
Based on The Ghanaian Occasions, some scattered elements have been positioned far-off, near the principle tarmac.
- 1978 Aeroplane crash close to Takoradi ( 4 fatalities)
On November 13, 1978, a Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain, registered as TR-LTQ and operated by Air Inter Gabon, crashed and killed all 4 occupants.
Based on the Bureau of Plane Accident Archives, the dual engine airplane departed Port Gentil, Gabon, on a constitution flight to the Ivory Coast, carrying three passengers and a pilot. En route, it crashed in unknown circumstances in a wooded space positioned west of Takoradi, close to the border between Ghana and Ivory Coast.
- 1969 Takoradi Airport Crash (1 fatality)
On April 24, 1969, a Douglas C-47 Skytrain (DC-3) with registration 9G-AAF, owned by Ghana Airways, crashed, killing one individual and significantly injuring a number of others.
The pilot-in-command elected to make an emergency touchdown, and the aeroplane crash-landed just a few kilometres in need of the runway threshold.
Based on the Bureau of Plane Accidents Archives, on last method to Takoradi Airport from Accra, each engines stopped concurrently.
A passenger was killed, whereas just a few others have been wounded, a few of them significantly.
The precise explanation for the engine failure stays unclear, however the assumption that it was brought on by gas exhaustion or contaminated gas was not dominated out.
Devastating Highway and Rail Disasters
- 1981 Prepare Derailment (21 fatalities)
January 14, 1981, went down as one of many darkest days within the nation’s historical past when an categorical practice derailed between Accra and Kumasi, killing a minimum of 21 folks and injuring about 200.
- 2025 Gas Tanker Crash close to Juaso (16 fatalities)
The Accra–Kumasi freeway, typically cited as certainly one of Ghana’s most harmful roads, was the scene of one other lethal crash on Monday, July 28, 2025.
The deadly collision concerned a Ford Transit Bus with registration quantity GT 4674-22 and a DAF XF articulated tanker truck with registration quantity GT 1674-17.
The gas tanker’s tyre burst, inflicting it to veer into an oncoming minibus and kill 16 younger members of the Saviour Church Youth Ministry who have been coming back from a church convention in Koforidua.
This incident led to renewed calls from legislators and the Nationwide Highway Security Authority (NRSA) for pressing authorities intervention to enhance street security on the freeway.
- 2022 Apiate Explosion (17 fatalities)
In a catastrophic occasion that started with a street crash on January 20, 2022, a automobile carrying mining explosives collided with a motorbike within the city of Apiate, close to Bogoso within the Western Area.
The ensuing explosion killed a minimum of 17 folks and levelled your complete group.
A complete of three,300 folks have been affected, and a few 59 have been injured.
Reviews from the Nationwide Catastrophe Administration Organisation (NADMO) indicated that 500 buildings have been destroyed by the blast, and roughly 1,500 folks have been left homeless.
- 2020 Kintampo Bus Crash (31 fatalities, with 30 burnt past recognition)
This is without doubt one of the most extreme bus crashes in latest Ghanaian historical past.
It was a results of a head-on collision between a Kia Grandbird bus, carrying 12 passengers together with sacks of inexperienced pepper and tomatoes, and a Mercedes Sprinter bus, which was carrying passengers and their baggage.
The Kintampo Municipal Police Commander of the Motor Site visitors and Transport Division (MTTD) on the time, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Mr. Francis Brobbey, instructed the Every day Graphic that the Grandbird (registered as GT 5059-17), which was touring from Bawku to Kumasi, veered off its lane at about 4:20 a.m. and collided head-on with the Mercedes Sprinter (registered as AS 1801-18), which was heading in direction of Tamale from Kumasi.
He mentioned three kids and 26 adults have been burned past recognition.
- 2019 Kintampo-Techiman Freeway Crash (60 fatalities)
The Kintampo freeway ‘demise lure’ was a scene of catastrophe but once more when a head-on collision of two buses on Friday, March 22, 2019, in Ampoma, a city within the Bono East Area, claimed over 60 lives.
Passengers trapped in one of many buses have been consumed by an intense inferno believed to have been sparked by leaking gas after the influence.
A number of others sustained numerous levels of accidents.
The accident concerned a VVIP Kia bus (GT 3915-17), which was travelling from Garu within the Higher East Area in direction of Kumasi, and a Grandbird bus, which was additionally heading in direction of Bolgatanga.
Highway customers have been calling on the suitable authorities to repair the rumble strips on the Kintampo-Techiman street, which have claimed a number of lives.
Some survivors blamed the accident on the driving force, who refused to park and relaxation, including that he was sleepy.
- 2019 Ekumfi Crash (30 fatalities)
On the identical day, later dubbed a ‘Black Friday’, March 22, 2019, greater than 30 folks died in one other deadly accident at Ekumfi Abor on the Winneba-Cape Coast Freeway within the Ekumfi District of the Central Area.
The accident concerned a Yutong bus travelling from Takoradi to Accra and a Metro Mass Transit bus heading in direction of Cape Coast, as reported by the Every day Graphic.
Based on an eyewitness, the Yutong bus was making an attempt to overhaul one other automobile on a moist morning when the accident occurred.
Physique elements littered the scene, and blood ran in all places.
The injured have been rushed to the Winneba Trauma Hospital and the Mankessim Catholic Hospital, whereas the our bodies of the deceased have been deposited on the morgues of the identical hospitals.
Personnel from the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Nationwide Fireplace Service have been on the scene to rescue victims nonetheless trapped within the wreck and have been additionally directing site visitors, which had constructed up on the principle street because of the accident.
- 2016 Kintampo Bus Collision (71 fatalities)
The Metro Mass Transit coach reportedly collided head-on with a cargo truck carrying tomatoes close to the city of Kintampo.
Investigators mentioned the bus, which was travelling up north from Kumasi, was overloaded, carrying greater than 70 passengers slightly than a most of 63.
Government Director on the Bureau of Public Security (BPS), Dr. Davidson Nana Yaw Akwada, weighed in on the horrific statistics.
“Taking a look at these numbers, I see the identical worrying theme repeating itself: Ghana’s transport methods—whether or not within the sky, on the rails, or on our roads—exhibit deep and unresolved security flaws. Every incident has its personal backstory, however while you step again, you see a sample formed by weak infrastructure, human lapses, and a degree of regulatory oversight that merely hasn’t saved tempo with the dangers.
“A crash in Ghana—whether or not it’s a helicopter, a practice, or a bus—is extra than simply an remoted tragedy. It’s a stress take a look at of our nationwide security tradition. The true hazard isn’t solely within the lives we lose on the day, however within the classes we fail to internalise afterwards. With out stronger oversight, actual enforcement, and funding in safer methods, these numbers won’t fade; they’ll develop,” he instructed MyJoyOnline.
“When a tragedy claims the lives of senior authorities or navy officers, the grief is nationwide—however grief alone just isn’t sufficient. It ought to set off a tough have a look at the foundations we comply with, the way in which we preserve our fleets, and the selections made earlier than take-off.”
The President and CEO of the Institute for Safety, Catastrophe and Emergency Research (ISDES) additionally shared his skilled ideas on the catastrophe developments.
He emphasised throughout an interplay with MyJoyOnline, stating: “I feel we as a folks have a tendency to present all the pieces to God, slightly than God having given us the knowledge to arrange ourselves in opposition to emergencies of any sort or minimise those that we can’t management after our greatest efforts.”
He continued, “I do not assume we now have realized an excessive amount of, and our hospitals usually are not prepared for traumatic occasions; our emergency companies usually are not prepared for traumatic occasions. The safety forces usually are not nicely ready to take care of overwhelming traumatic occasions. So, we are saying we’re ready, however it’s solely a ‘sing-song.’ It isn’t actually a severe assertion while you go to the nitty-gritty of organisational methods, logistical and gear preparedness, and personnel preparedness.”
The dire scenario has prompted the Ghana Medical Affiliation (GMA) to declare transport-related crashes as a public well being emergency that calls for pressing nationwide consideration.
Talking on the forty fourth Annual Common Assembly of the Society of Non-public Medical and Dental Practitioners in Cape Coast, President of the Ghana Medical Affiliation (GMA), Dr. Frank Serebuor, demanded motion to handle the scenario.
“Even our single-lane roads are in such deplorable situation that each journey on them looks like a dance with demise,” Dr. Serebuor lamented. “Sadly, so as to add insult to damage, our drivers ply these horrible roads with careless abandon.”
What’s the manner ahead?
Ghana’s transport security problem is an accelerating disaster, marked by a disturbing enhance in fatalities and a posh array of systemic challenges.
The evaluation of main street crashes, such because the 2016 Kintampo bus collision and the 2012 Accra cargo plane-bus crash, alongside latest and recurring tragedies on the Accra-Kumasi Freeway, reveals a constant sample of contributing components.
These embrace prevalent driver negligence, vital deficiencies in street infrastructure, points with automobile roadworthiness and upkeep, and vital gaps in regulatory enforcement and post-crash emergency response.
Addressing Ghana’s transport security disaster calls for a multi-faceted, sustained, and politically dedicated method.
This includes not solely stricter enforcement of site visitors legal guidelines and automobile requirements but additionally vital funding in modernizing street infrastructure, enhancing emergency response capabilities, and fostering a pervasive tradition of security by way of steady public schooling.
With out such complete and unwavering dedication, Ghana’s transportation will proceed to be a supply of nationwide tragedy.
Dr Akwada holds the view that if the nation is severe about stopping the following headline tragedy, stakeholders should contemplate a multi-agency coordination and multi-faceted method:
• Investigations that dig deep, and findings that see daylight.
• Absolutely fund and shield the independence of accident investigation our bodies for air, rail, and street.
• Publish each investigation in full for civil aviation incidents or redacted for safety sector incidents — noting that the teachings aren’t only for the consultants; they’re for everybody who travels or operates within the system.
• Infrastructure that meets the second.
• Modernise rail tracks, crossings, and alerts earlier than the following accident forces our hand.
• Redesign harmful street corridors — Kintampo-Techiman, Accra-Kumasi — with twin carriageways, accelerating lanes, rumble strips, and clear signage.
• Operators who’re skilled — and retrained.
• Make recurrent coaching for pilots, drivers, and engineers non-negotiable, with a concentrate on fatigue, hazard recognizing, and real-world situations.
• Tie operator license renewals to precise security data, not simply paperwork.
• Guidelines which might be enforced, not ignored.
• Impose actual penalties for overloading, rushing, violating obligation/relaxation deadlines or skimping on upkeep.
• Perform necessary security audits for transport corporations — and floor people who fail.
• Emergency care that buys time
• Construct out regional emergency response so the “golden hour” isn’t only a medical excellent however a actuality.
• Equip rural hospitals to deal with mass-casualty occasions at once.
On his half, Dr. Norman emphasizes emergency preparedness to handle unavoidable disasters.
“You could have a vital mass of individuals (staff, personnel) who actually perceive their obligation by way of emergency preparedness. So, if, for instance, you’ll appoint any person to run NADMO, that individual needs to be appointed not just because they have been as soon as concerned in some intervention, however as a result of they possess the vital expertise to have the ability to do this job… So, for me, our authorities, the appointing authorities, should additionally turn into extra circumspect and appoint the fitting folks.”
He mentioned the legal guidelines mandate each establishment to design a catastrophe and emergency danger response plan.
“Each establishment in Ghana should have a danger officer and an emergency officer. We do not practice the people who find themselves tasked with this duty successfully. If we do not practice folks, we will be unable to do probably the most essential issues that really reduces danger.”
He cited the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15, 2013, within the US, for example, the place an environment friendly catastrophe administration system in place ensured minimal fatalities, numbering solely three, regardless of a detonation in a crowded space.
“The hospitals within the Boston space, the ambulance companies, the police companies, and personal hospitals had already gone by way of a coaching program, the place they’d deliberate for the worst-case situation. So, out of the 200 folks, some suffered limb loss, and solely three folks died. One thing like that, with a bomb explosion, one thing like that in Ghana, all 200 folks would have confronted an entire catastrophe in trauma care. Transportation of the injured folks would have been a catastrophe.”
In comparison with the Adansi crash incident, Dr. Norman puzzled why the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) couldn’t parachute personnel to the closest village and make a speedy deployment to the crash website “to cordon off the world to forestall the villagers” from contaminating the world.
With the world open to the general public, some villages had entry to the our bodies and the crash website, with the our bodies later transported in cocoa sacks.
He additional urged common simulation workout routines to raised deal with emergencies.
“We do not do simulation workout routines, and but, for those who ask any of the safety businesses at the moment, they’ll let you know they’re ready. Ready for what? It’s only when the emergency occurs that you simply see that they’re as unprepared as we’re in terms of emergency preparedness,” he concluded.
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Feedback, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform don’t essentially signify the views or coverage of Multimedia Group Restricted.
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Feedback, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform don’t essentially signify the views or coverage of Multimedia Group Restricted.
Source link
