Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority said search and rescue teams had been deployed to the Arabian Sea after the aircraft went missing late on Tuesday night. The cause of the incident has not yet been established
An emergency search is on for a Boeing 737 cargo plane carrying five crew members after it abruptly lost contact with air traffic control on Tuesday night.
The Pakistan-registered aircraft reported a navigational system issue while on its way from the United Arab Emirates to the Pakistani port of Karachi before it rapidly descended and went silent.
Flightradar24 tracking data shows the plane plunged about 5,000ft in less than a minute, surged back 6,000ft in just 30 seconds, before a dive from 36,550 feet.
The last transmitted data point located the aircraft at 1,100 feet above sea level with a vertical rate of minus 22,400 feet per minute – about 400 kilometres per hour – an extremely steep and abnormal rate of descent.
“Anytime you see something extreme like that, it catches your eye, but it is too soon to say what any of it means without more information,” said Anthony Brickhouse, an aerospace safety consultant.
An aviation expert told ARY News that it is unclear what caused the aircraft to disappear from radar. Even if an aircraft suffers an engine failure, it would normally continue gliding rather than plunge suddenly, Imran Aslam said. “I still cannot understand how the plane went down so abruptly instead of gliding.”
A coordinated search-and-rescue operation at sea through various agencies to locate the missing plane, Pakistan Airports Authority said.
The missing aircraft is one of Boeing’s decades-old 737. The 737-400 was first delivered as a passenger plane to Russia’s Aeroflot in 1999, but in 2012 it was converted to a freighter. It is K2 Airways’ only aircraft and entered into service with the carrier in 2024.
K2 Airways has released a statement naming those on board after contact was lost with a cargo plane from Sharjah to Karachi.
It reads: “K2 Airways’ cargo aircraft Boeing 737-400 Registration Ap-BOI, which was going from Sharjah to Karachi last night, lost contact with Air Traffic Control at about 21:21 hours according to Pakistan time.
“There were 5 crew members on board the aircraft. Mohammad Rizwan Idrees (Pilot in Command), Faisal Mehmood (First Officer), Muhammad Toufique Khan (Load Master), Arif Siddiqui (Engineer), Mohammad Hamid (Englineer).
“Search and rescue operations are being conducted by the concerned organisations. K2 Airways is fully cooperating with the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority and other government agencies. We continue to pray, earnestly, for the safety of our colleagues.”
The Pakistan Aerospace Council has said its “thoughts” are with the crew and their families as a search mission continues for the missing plane.
The aerospace industry body states: “The Pakistan Aerospace Council (PAeC) stands in solidarity with K2 Airways during this difficult time. Our thoughts are with the crew, their families, and all those awaiting updates. We sincerely hope for positive news from the ongoing search efforts.”
