Festus Aboagye, a retired Colonel and security analyst, has said there is no evidence of a mid-air explosion in the fatal Helicopter crash that occurred on August 6 at Adansi Akrofoum in the Ashanti Region.
According to Festus Aboagye, if the Helicopter exploded mid-air, the tops of the trees would be burnt, which would be evidence.
Speaking on The Point of View on Channel One TV on August 13, Col. Aboagye stated, “Let me try and clear some of these conspiracies, about somebody emphatically saying that the helicopter crashed mid-air.
“The first thing is that there’s no evidence. The evidence that I have, call it empirical or recorded, is BBC. When the BBC does a report, they have done a lot of fact-checking. So BBC is saying that the eyewitness told us ‘loud noise’, ‘a ‘bang’, suggesting that there was an impact, and then there was an explosion,” he stated.
He added, “Assuming that it exploded mid-air, we must see the tops of the trees burnt, which will be part of the evidence”.
However, Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe Ghansah, the Deputy Majority Chief Whip, has alleged that available evidence implies the GAF Z-9 helicopter was blasted mid-air.
According to the deputy Majority Whip, the retrieval of the black box will let Ghanaians know what really caused the aircraft to blast before coming down.
Speaking on OKAY FM, Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe Ghansah stated, “The aircraft exploded; it did not crash. Let me tell you something: with all the crashes that have happened in the past, we see that the aircraft lands at a specific location. You would usually find it at a given location where the victims can all be found”.
But in this instance, the parts of the helicopter were scattered, and the victims were found at separate locations. In an aircraft where one is in a seatbelt, how did the victims end up scattered? We are told some of them were found in a deep valley. So, the aircraft blasted before reaching the ground,” she added.
The Deputy Majority Whip added, “We thank God that the black box has been found. Whatever the details are, the government should make them available because we are all interested parties. We want to know what happened that caused the aircraft to blast before coming down”.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has urged the media to exercise restraint and accuracy in their commentary on the recent Air Force Z-9 helicopter crash in the Ashanti Region.
GAF is calling on media practitioners, commentators, bloggers, and content creators not to draw conclusions based on opinion, perceptions.
According to GAF, premature conclusions risk misleading the public, but also deepen the pain of the bereaved families.
Captain VA Arhin, Acting Director General of Public Relations, in a statement wrote, “For the sake of the bereaved families and loved ones, the Armed Forces urge media practitioners, panelists, social commentators, bloggers, and content creators to be circumspect in their reportage as a way of according respect to the memories of the fallen heroes and to mitigate the sorrows of the bereaved families”.
“At this point in time, any purported conclusions based on opinion, perceptions, and conjectures will be premature and misleading. The public is therefore advised to be wary of such reportage,” the statement emphasised.
The statement concluded, “May the souls of our patriots continue to rest in peace”.
Also, a state funeral will be held for Ghana’s eight fallen heroes tomorrow, Friday, August 15, 2025, at the Black Star Square in Accra.