Four dead, one missing in chopper crash in Takoradi

Four people have been confirmed dead with a fifth declared missing after a helicopter carrying eight passengers and belonging to Luk Oil crashed into the sea 20 nautical miles off Takoradi.

The three remaining persons have however been rescued, according to Daily Graphic's Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu.

Among the dead are the two pilots of the chopper that had taken off from the Takoradi Airport at 12:57pm on a 15-minute flight to a new oil rig belonging to Luk Oil for appraisal and completion of wells discovered by the company in 2011.

Sources close to a search party - comprising two boats from the Ghana Navy, two from Luk Oil and one from Tullow Oil - told the Daily Graphic that the chopper was expected at its destination at about 1:10pm, however two hours passed without any sign of it, prompting a search mission.

The search and rescue party are said to have located the exact location of the crash.