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Search and rescue operations are underway after a Boeing 737 suddenly went missing after departing the Middle East on Tuesday.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority, radar data showed the aircraft suddenly losing altitude and “rapidly descending” before making a sharp turn just minutes later.
The Boeing 737, operated by Karachi-based K2 Airways, was a cargo plane with five people on board, travelling from Sharjah in the UAE to Karachi, Pakistan.
The chilling final transmission reveals the pilot raised the alarm that the plane was “rolling or floating”.
While rolling is a phase of flight, floating refers to a landing error.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday said the aircraft had crashed into the Arabian Sea.
Mr Sharif offered condolences to the families of the five crew members and expressed “deep sorrow, grief, and regret over the tragic incident”.
Pakistan civil aviation authorities, the navy and the airforce have been directed to intensify search and rescue operations and use all available resources to locate the missing plane, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s office.
It is understood both navy and merchant vessels are taking part in the efforts to locate the missing plane, alongside military aircraft. The cause of the incident is not yet known and the aircraft is yet to be found.
Contact with the aircraft was lost at approximately 9.21pm when it was around 155 nautical miles (287km) west of Karachi.
When looking at playback of the flight, the plane appeared to simply vanish off the coast of Pakistan, losing all contact with air traffic control after taking off from the United Arab Emirates.
The crew reported a navigation system issue at around 9.18pm local time.
Preliminary data sent from the plane “indicated a loss of altitude, followed by a climb, and then a second, sudden and dramatic loss of altitude,” according to Flightradar24.com, a global flight-tracking service.
According to Reuters, the Flightradar24 data suggests a possible crash into sea near Karachi.
In a statement posted to their social media page, K2 Airways said it was cooperating with the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority and other government agencies.
They also identified the five crew members on board and said that they “continue to pray, earnestly, for the safety of our colleagues.”
K2 Airways is a private cargo airline in Pakistan that operates scheduled and charter flights domestically and internationally.
Manufactured in 1999, the plane flew as a passenger plane for Aeroflot and Garuda Indonesia before being converted to a cargo configuration in 2012, according to Airfleets.net.
It is K2 Airways’ only aircraft and entered into service with the carrier in 2024.
If casualties are confirmed, it would be Pakistan’s first fatal air crash since 2020, when Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303 came down short of the runway in Karachi, killing 97 people after pilots were distracted discussing the coronavirus before a failed landing attempt.
English (US)