Wreckage of Missing Cargo Aircraft Located Off Ormara, Confirms PAA

On Wednesday, the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) announced that the Pakistan Navy and the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency, after twelve hours of deep‑sea search and rescue, had located and identified the wreckage of K2 Airways’ cargo Boeing 737 aircraft that went missing the previous night.

The wreckage was recovered approximately 53 nautical miles south of Ormara, according to the PAA.

The authority added that a combination of aerial and maritime assets were deployed by the navy and the maritime agency to locate the ill‑fated cargo plane.

The crew members’ bodies have not yet been recovered, and recovery efforts are ongoing.

The PAA noted that additional details will be released as the search operation proceeds.

A K2 Airways Boeing 737‑400 cargo aircraft vanished from radar over the Arabian Sea, roughly 300 kilometres west of Karachi, late on Tuesday night.

K2 Airways is a Karachi‑based private airline that began operations in May 2018 after receiving a government‑issued airline charter licence.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif instructed the Civil Aviation Authority, the Navy and the Pakistan Air Force to intensify search and rescue efforts in the Arabian Sea following the disappearance of a private cargo plane en route from Sharjah to Karachi late Tuesday night.

Reports indicate the aircraft lost contact while entering Pakistani airspace; the pilot reported a navigation problem and sought assistance from the area control centre.

On Wednesday, state‑run Radio Pakistan reported that the prime minister had directed the CAA, the navy and the PAF to use all available resources in the search operation and expressed heartfelt sympathies to the families of the five crew members aboard the aircraft.

President Asif Ali Zardari also voiced concern about the missing aircraft and expressed hope for a successful search and rescue operation, according to a statement from the President’s Office.

The statement added that the president extended heartfelt condolences to the families of the aircraft’s crew and expressed complete solidarity with them during this difficult time.

The PAA said on Tuesday night that the aircraft reported a navigational system issue at 9:18 p.m. and was promptly guided by the Karachi Area Control Centre.

However, at 9:21 p.m., radar showed the aircraft rapidly descending and executing a sharp heading change.

Subsequently, radar contact and communications were lost about 287 kilometres west of Karachi, the PAA reported.

FlightRadar notes that the aircraft, registered as AP‑BOI, is a Boeing 737‑4M0(BDSF) that entered K2 Airways service in 2024.

It was originally delivered to Aeroflot as a passenger jet in 1999, transferred to Garuda Indonesia in 2004, converted to a freighter in 2012, and subsequently operated by TNT Airways and ASL Airlines.

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