Missing plane Pakistan live: K2 Airways Boeing 737 found - crew unaccounted for
A Boeing 737 cargo aircraft operated by K2 Airways has been found off the coast of Pakistan following an intensive 12-hour search, though the five crew members remain unaccounted for.
The aircraft disappeared on Tuesday while en route from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to Karachi. The plane reported a navigation system problem at 9.18pm local time and lost contact with air traffic control approximately three minutes later at 21.21 hours, around 155 nautical miles west of Karachi. The wreckage was discovered more than 50 miles south of Ormara, a port town on the Arabian Sea coast.
According to Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority, radar data showed the aircraft rapidly descending and making a sharp change in direction before both radar and radio contact were lost. Tracking data indicates the plane dropped approximately 35,000 feet in less than two minutes. The pilot's final transmission referenced the aircraft "rolling or floating," which aviation experts interpret as indicating a critical malfunction in the flight control system.
The 27-year-old Boeing 737-400 was originally delivered as a passenger plane to Russia's Aeroflot in 1999 and was converted to a freighter in 2012. It is K2 Airways' only aircraft and began operations with the carrier in 2024. K2 Airways, a private Pakistani cargo airline based at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, was founded in 2017.
The five crew members on board were identified as Mohammad Rizwan Idrees (Pilot in Command), Faisal Mehmood (First Officer), Muhammad Toufique Khan (Load Master), Arif Siddiqui (Engineer), and Mohammad Hamid (Engineer). K2 Airways issued a statement saying: "We continue to pray earnestly for the safety of our colleagues."
The Pakistan Airports Authority confirmed that search and rescue operations continue in deep sea efforts to locate the missing crew members.