Pakistan Launches Search for Missing Karachi-Bound Cargo Plane Over Arabian Sea

Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan has launched a search operation for a Boeing cargo aircraft that went missing over the Arabian Sea with five crew members aboard.

The Karachi-bound 737-400, operated by a Pakistani carrier, departed from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and lost contact with air traffic control at approximately 9:18pm (16:18 GMT) on Tuesday after reporting a navigational system fault, according to the Pakistan Airports Authority.

Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 revealed the aircraft experienced a rapid altitude loss of nearly 1,525 metres (5,000 feet) within a minute, followed by a climb of about 1,830 metres (6,000 feet) in the subsequent 30 seconds before entering a steep final descent from 11,140 metres (36,550 feet). Radar data indicated the plane was at 335 metres (1,100 feet) while descending at 22,400 feet per minute when all contact was severed approximately 155 nautical miles (287km) west of Karachi.

Pakistani security sources confirmed that search efforts involve a naval vessel, a merchant ship operated by the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, and two naval aircraft.

No wreckage or survivors have been recovered so far.

“We continue to pray, earnestly, for the safety of our colleagues,” said K2 Airways, the Karachi-based private cargo airline that operates the flight, in a statement Wednesday. The company said it is fully cooperating with authorities and noted that it was the airline’s sole aircraft in service.

If crash confirmation occurs, this incident would represent Pakistan’s first major air disaster since May 2020, when a Pakistan International Airlines flight crashed short of the runway in Karachi, killing 97 of the 99 people aboard.

The 27-year-old aircraft, a K2 Airways 737-400, has operated for six different carriers. Originally delivered to Russia’s Aeroflot as a passenger aircraft in 1999, it later flew for Garuda Indonesia before being converted to a freighter for Belgium’s TNT Airways in 2012. Aircraft tracking records indicate the plane was withdrawn from service in June 2023 and parked in France for approximately 10 months. An Irish company, AerCap, reactivated the aircraft in April 2024, placing it in storage in Jakarta and later Karachi before it entered service with K2 Airways in December 2024.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief over the incident and extended his condolences to the families of the missing crew members.

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