Retired Colonel and security analyst Festus Aboagye has rejected claims that the August 6 helicopter crash at Adansi Akrofoum in the Ashanti Region involved a mid-air explosion.

The crash claimed the lives of eight people, including Defence Minister Dr. Edward Omane Boamah; Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed; former parliamentary candidate Samuel Aboagye; National Democratic Congress (NDC) Vice Chairman Samuel Sarpong; and Acting Deputy National Security Coordinator Alhaji Limuna Muniru Mohammed.

The crew members who died were Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, Flying Officer Manin Twum-Ampadu, and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah.

Speaking on The Point of View with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV on August 13, Col. Aboagye said there is no evidence to support speculation of a mid-air explosion.

“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 further explained that if the aircraft had exploded while airborne, physical signs would have been present at the crash site.

“Assuming that it exploded mid-air, we must see the tops of the trees burnt, which will be part of the evidence,” he said.

A state funeral for the victims will be held on Friday, August 15, 2025, at the Black Star Square in Accra.