Cargo plane disappears in Pakistan with five crew after navigation failure
A Boeing 737, configured for cargo, disappeared on Tuesday night after breaking communication with air traffic control. The aircraft was flying between Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates, and Karachi, in Pakistan. Belonging to K2 Airways, the Pakistani company that operated the flight, the device was carrying five people and had reported a failure in the navigation system moments before disappearing from radars. Pakistani teams have already begun a search and rescue operation in the Arabian Sea, the likely location of the crash.
On the same topic: Wreckage of missing Boeing 737 in Pakistan is located; Search for crew continues
The Pakistan Airport Authority confirmed that the announcement about the problem occurred at 9:18 pm local time. Flight controllers attempted to reestablish contact and provide assistance to the crew, but about three minutes later all radio and radar communication was lost. At that time, the plane’s estimated position was 287 kilometers west of Karachi.
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Data provided by monitoring service Flightradar24 revealed an abnormal flight pattern before the aircraft disappeared. In less than sixty seconds, the plane lost approximately 1,500 meters of altitude, recovering around 1,800 meters in the next thirty seconds. Soon after, it began a dizzying descent from 11 kilometers high, with the last record indicating a descent rate of around 22,400 feet per minute, a pace considered incompatible with normal emergency procedures, as determined by international experts. This preliminary analysis of real-time flight data becomes critical to initial investigations, filling in gaps before more detailed information can be retrieved.
The aircraft in question was a Boeing 737 model that was adapted for the exclusive transport of cargo. Manufactured 27 years ago, the plane underwent a passenger-to-freighter conversion in 2012 and, from 2024, it became part of the K2 Airways fleet. It was the only device in operation by the company.
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More on this story: Pakistan finds wreckage of Boeing 737 missing at sea; searches continue
The mobilization to locate the plane and its crew involves forces from the Pakistan Navy and Air Force, as well as civilian vessels and a ship from the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation. Weather conditions at sea, impacted by heavy monsoon rains, are making search work difficult. At the time this report was released, there was no concrete information about the location of the wreckage or the whereabouts of the five crew members.
Through an official statement, K2 Airways assured that it was cooperating fully with the authorities in charge of the investigation and expressed the hope that the crew would be found safe. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his solidarity with the families involved and ordered that all available resources be used in the complex search operation.
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If the crash is confirmed, this will be the first fatal aviation incident to be recorded in Pakistan since May 2020. On that occasion, a Pakistan International Airlines flight suffered a fatal accident during the approach to landing in Karachi, resulting in the death of 97 people.
