Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama has asked Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson to also act as defence minister after a military helicopter crash in which the defence minister was among those killed,

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.

Eight people, including Ghana ministers and members of Parliament, were killed Wednesday when the helicopter they were aboard crashed in the West African nation's southern Ashanti region. There were no survivors.