A multi-agency search and rescue mission is currently active in waters off southern Pakistan after a cargo plane carrying five crew members disappeared from radar near the nation’s major port city of Karachi, national aviation authorities have confirmed.
The incident unfolded at 21:21 local time (16:21 GMT) on Tuesday, when the Boeing 737 cargo jet experienced a rapid loss of altitude and cut off all communication with air traffic control controllers moments after reporting a critical navigation system malfunction, according to a spokesperson for the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority. The aircraft was traveling on a scheduled commercial cargo route from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, bound for Karachi when it disappeared.
Flight-tracking service Flightradar24’s preliminary data matches official reports, showing erratic, extreme altitude shifts on the jet’s flight path immediately before it entered the steep, uncontrolled descent that led to its disappearance.
The missing plane is operated by K2 Airways, a private Pakistani cargo carrier headquartered in Karachi that was founded less than a decade ago in 2018. On Wednesday, the airline released an official statement confirming the identities of the five crew members on board, noting that the company has activated its full emergency response protocol to coordinate with national aviation officials and other government departments leading the search. “We continue to pray, earnestly, for the safety of our colleagues,” the statement read.
Pakistan’s airport authority confirmed that both the country’s navy and air force have been deployed to the search area to aid recovery efforts, though no wreckage or signals from the plane’s black boxes have been reported as of the latest updates.
This disappearance comes as the most significant aviation incident in Pakistan since 2020, when a domestic Pakistan International Airlines passenger flight crashed on approach to Karachi airport, leaving only two survivors out of 99 people on board. That disaster triggered widespread calls for improved aviation safety inspections and regulatory overhauls across the country’s commercial aviation sector.