Cargo plane disappears from radar over Arabian Sea off Karachi

RAWALPINDI: A K2 Airways Boeing 737-400 cargo aircraft en route from Sharjah to Karachi disappeared from radar over the Arabian Sea, about 300 kilometres west of Karachi, on Tuesday. According to reports, the aircraft lost contact about 300 kilometres west of Karachi while approaching Pakistani airspace. The pilot reported a navigation problem during the flight and requested assistance from the area control centre. K2 Airways is a private airline based in Karachi. The carrier was established in May 2018 after being granted an airline charter licence by the government. There were five crew members on board the aircraft, the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) said. The PAA said in a statement that a K2 Airways B737 Pakistan Cargo flight en route from Sharjah to Karachi reported a navigational system issue at 9:18pm and was promptly guided by the Karachi Area Control Centre (ACC). However, at 9:21pmT, the aircraft was observed on radar rapidly descending and making a sharp change in heading. Subsequently, radar contact and communication were lost approximately 287 kilometres west of Karachi. “Preliminary ADS-B data indicate a loss of altitude, followed by a climb, and then a second, sudden and dramatic loss of altitude,” said flight-tracking service FlightRadar. It added that the final received data point from the aircraft placed at 1,100 ft AMSL (Above Mean Sea Level) with a “reported vertical rate of -22,400 feet per minute”. Following the incident, the Rescue Coordination Centre was activated and a coordinated search and rescue operation at sea was launched involving various agencies to locate the missing aircraft. The Bureau of Air Safety Investigation will investigate the cause of the crash. According to FlightRadar, the aircraft, registered as AP-BOI, is a Boeing 737-4M0(BDSF) that entered service with K2 Airways in 2024. It was originally delivered to Aeroflot as a passenger aircraft in 1999 before joining Garuda Indonesia in 2004. The aircraft was converted into a freighter in 2012 and later operated by TNT Airways and ASL Airlines.