Pakistan Searches Missing Boeing Cargo Plane
A Pakistan-bound Boeing 737-400 cargo aircraft operated by K2 Airways disappeared from radar over the Arabian Sea after reporting a navigation-system fault late Tuesday. Pakistani naval vessels and aircraft, alongside a merchant ship, are searching the area; no wreckage or survivors have been found so far.
A Karachi-bound Boeing 737-400 freighter operated by K2 Airways vanished from air-traffic control contact over the Arabian Sea late Tuesday after reporting a navigational-system fault, Pakistani authorities said. The Pakistan Airports Authority reported the aircraft took off from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and lost contact at about 9:18pm local time (16:18 GMT).
Flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 showed a dramatic sequence of altitude changes: an initial drop of nearly 1,525 metres (5,000 ft) in under a minute, a climb of about 1,830 metres (6,000 ft) in the next 30 seconds, and then a near-vertical descent from cruising altitude. The flight’s last transmitted position placed it at around 335 metres (1,100 ft) while descending at roughly 22,400 feet per minute — about 400 kilometres per hour.
All contact was lost approximately 155 nautical miles (287 km) west of Karachi. Security sources told international media that search efforts include a Pakistani navy ship, a merchant vessel operated by the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation and two navy aircraft. As of the latest official statements, no wreckage or survivors have been located.
K2 Airways, a Karachi-based private cargo carrier that operated the flight, said in a Wednesday statement that it was ‘‘praying, earnestly, for the safety of our colleagues’’ and was fully cooperating with authorities. The aircraft was the only plane in K2’s fleet. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief and extended sympathies to the families of the missing crew members.
The 27-year-old Boeing 737-400 freighter has a lengthy operational history. Delivered to Russia’s Aeroflot as a passenger aircraft in 1999, it later flew for Garuda Indonesia and was converted into a freighter in 2012 for Belgium’s TNT Airways. Records show it was withdrawn from service in June 2023 and parked in France for about 10 months before being reactivated by leasing company AerCap in April 2024, then placed in storage in Jakarta and Karachi prior to entering service with K2 Airways in December 2024.
If authorities confirm a crash, it would be Pakistan’s first major civilian air disaster since a Pakistan International Airlines flight crashed near Karachi in May 2020, which killed 97 of the 99 people onboard. For BVI residents, the incident underscores the global importance of rigorous aviation safety oversight and the vulnerability of small carriers.
Communities with family or business ties to Pakistan should monitor official updates and travel advisories as search and investigation efforts continue.
Primary source: VINO