Military personnel in helicopter crash laid to rest

Burial took place on Thursday at the Osu Military Cemetery in Accra of the five personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) who died in the March 16 helicopter crash in the Atiwa Forest at Segyimase in the Eastern Region.

They were Wing Commander Benjamin Acheampong, the pilot, Flight Lieutenant Seth Lartey, co-pilot, Coporals Emmanuel Akoensi and Joseph Bosomfi, both technicians and Corporal Frederick Adu-Buxton.

A large crowd of mourners and sympathisers, including members of the Council of State, Ministers of State, and a government delegation led by Vice President Aliu Mahama were at the burial service to pay their last respects to the victims whose coffins were draped in the colours of the national flag and laid at the Air Force Base at Burma Camp.

There was also a six-member Togolese military delegation led by their Minister of Defence, Brigadier General Asani Tidjani. As the joint Air Force and Army band played solemn brass band music, four sentry men, traditionally taking care of the bodies, moved in various directions, using their long mini swords to display military antics.

Delivering the sermon after tributes had been read by representatives of the Ghana Armed Forces and the families of the victims, Reverend Venerable John Kwamina Otoo, Chaplain General of the GAF, basing his sermon on John 15:13, praised the gallantry of the servicemen and called on mankind to sacrifice in behalf of others.

He recalled the sympathy expressed by President John Agyekum Kufuor and said the sacrifice of the servicemen was a great one as they died in the course of saving the lives of others.

He said it was worthy that the role of every Ghanaian, especially of people who were faced with numerous risks and dangers, and possibly death, in the discharge of their duties, was recognised and adequately rewarded for the sacrifices they made in the development of the nation.

Venerable Otoo called on people in positions of responsibility to be concerned about their subordinates and treat them with the needed respect. Six pallbearers carried each coffin and marched to the hearses against a background of "Death march in Saul" dirge and wails and sobs by relations of the victims, friends and sympathisers.

Fifteen wreaths were laid at the cemetery after the last post was sounded, followed by a gun salute and a two-minute silence. Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, laid one on behalf of the Commander-in-Chief and Government and people of Ghana.

Major Tidjani laid one on behalf of the Government and people of the Republic of Togo, while Lieutenant General S.K. Obeng, Chief of Defence Staff, laid one on behalf of the Ghana Armed Forces. The rest of the wreaths were laid by other regiments within the GAF, wives and relatives of the victims.

To give the personnel a final adieu in flight operations, an air force jet flew over the graveyard, accompanied by a huge noise, when the Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs and the Chief of the Defence Staff were about to lay their wreaths.

The Agusta Bell 412 helicopter, which was tasked to undertake a medical evacuation at Nkawkaw, took off from the Air Force Base at Burma Camp at about 0700 hours with an estimated flight time of between 45 and 50 minutes. It crashed on its return trip to Accra.

Other persons on board the helicopter who also died were Mr Debrah George, another patient and a civilian employee of the Ministry of Defence, and Mr Victor Nyarko, a nurse of the Holy Family Hospital at Nkawkaw.