3 dead, 1 missing after helicopter crashes off western Ghana, officials say

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ACCRA, Ghana – A helicopter carrying personnel to an offshore oil rig has crashed off the coast of Ghana, killing at least three people, officials said.

A fourth person is presumed dead, but no body has been found, said Kwame Mamphey, director general of the West African nation’s Civil Aviation Authority, on Friday. Four other people survived the crash and are in hospitals. At least one is in critical condition.

The helicopter was carrying five Ghanaians and one person each from Britain, France and Nigeria when it crashed into the sea Thursday, said Mamphey.

“An intensive search” is underway for the missing person, said the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum in a statement.

The Ministry statement said the helicopter was being used by the Ghanaian subsidiary of the Russian oil company Lukoil and that it had carried out two flights earlier on Thursday without incident.

Ghana began pumping oil from its Jubilee field in 2010. Already rich in gold and cocoa, Ghana is one of the most stable countries in Africa, but many of its 25 million people remain in poverty.