Pakistan Searches for Missing Boeing Cargo Plane

A Pakistan-registered Boeing 737 cargo plane carrying five crew members vanished from radar screens Tuesday night after reporting navigational system problems en route to Karachi. The aircraft, operated by K2 Airways, experienced a series of sharp altitude changes before disappearing southwest of Karachi in the Arabian Sea.

The flight tracking service Flightradar24 reported that the 27-year-old converted freighter plunged about 5,000 feet in less than a minute before surging back some 6,000 feet in just 30 seconds. The last transmitted data point placed the aircraft at an extremely steep and abnormal descent rate of minus 22,400 feet per minute.

Search and rescue operations are underway through various agencies to locate the missing plane. K2 Airways confirmed it is cooperating with aviation authorities but did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters. The crew comprised two pilots, two engineers, and one support staffer.

The aircraft was flying over the Arabian Sea near Ormara in Balochistan when contact was lost at approximately 9:18pm local time (16:18 GMT). According to UPI, wreckage from the K2 Airways aircraft was found floating in the ocean on Wednesday about 200 miles west of Karachi. The Pakistan Airports Authority stated that air traffic control observed the aircraft descending rapidly and making a sudden heading change before disappearing from radar.

The missing plane is part of Boeing's decades-old 737 family and had entered service with K2 Airways earlier this year after being converted to a freighter in 2012. The aircraft was first delivered as a passenger plane to Russia's Aeroflot in 1999 before changing hands multiple times. It is the only aircraft in K2 Airways' fleet.

Pakistani rescuers have located submerged wreckage from the cargo plane that disappeared on approach to Karachi. Navy and civilian searchers discovered remnants of the K2 Airways cargo Boeing 737 on Wednesday in the Arabian Sea, 53 nautical miles (98 km) south of Ormara port. Retired Rear Admiral Faisal Shah told the Associated Press that the main wreckage of the plane was still being searched for and could require specialised deep-sea equipment to locate.

The aircraft had reported a problem with its navigational system shortly after 9:18 pm Pakistani Standard Time (16:18 GMT). Air traffic control lost communication after it began to descend rapidly. Data from flight-tracking service Flightradar24 recorded drastic changes in the plane’s altitude, with it plunging, then climbing thousands of feet within seconds and entering a final dive from 36,550 feet (11,140 metres).

K2 Airways identified the five missing crew members as pilot Muhammad Rizwan Idris, co-pilot Faisal Jatoi, flight engineers Muhammad Hamid and Muhammad Arif Siddiqui, and aircraft loader Muhammad Taufiq Khan. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed sympathy with the crew’s families and directed the government to deploy all available resources for the search.