Pakistani aviation authorities have launched a search and rescue operation after a cargo aircraft carrying five crew members lost contact with air traffic control on Tuesday night. The Boeing 737, operated by the private Pakistani carrier K2 Airways, was en route from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to Karachi when the incident occurred.
According to the Pakistan Airport Authority (PAA), the crew reported a technical problem during the flight. Radar systems subsequently tracked the aircraft descending rapidly before communication was lost entirely. Local media outlet Geo News reported that the plane was flying over the Arabian Sea near Ormara, in the Balochistan province, when it disappeared.
Data from the flight-tracking service Flightradar24.com provided a preliminary look at the aircraft’s final moments, indicating a loss of altitude followed by a brief climb and then a second, sudden, and dramatic descent. The last recorded data point showed the plane at an altitude of 1,100 feet (335 meters) with a vertical rate of minus 22,400 feet per minute, an exceptionally steep and abnormal descent profile.
In response to the disappearance, the PAA has activated a rescue coordination center and deployed search efforts at sea to locate the missing aircraft. The plane, manufactured in 1999, had a history of service with Aeroflot and Garuda Indonesia as a passenger jet before undergoing conversion into a cargo configuration in 2012.
This incident follows a notable aviation tragedy in Karachi from May 2020, when a passenger plane carrying 98 people crashed in a neighborhood near the airport due to an apparent engine failure. A subsequent investigation into that 2020 crash, which resulted in 97 fatalities, concluded that the disaster was the result of human error involving the pilot, co-pilot, and air traffic control.
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