A Boeing 737 cargo aircraft operated by the Pakistani private carrier K2 Airways has gone missing over the Arabian Sea. The plane, which had five crew members on board, lost contact with air traffic control on Tuesday night while en route from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, to Karachi, Pakistan.
According to reports from Geo News, the aircraft disappeared while flying over the Arabian Sea in the vicinity of Ormara, located in the Balochistan province. The Pakistan Airport Authority (PAA) reported that radar systems tracked the plane descending rapidly before communication was severed. The PAA said a rescue coordination center has been activated and a search effort launched at sea to locate the missing aircraft has been deployed.
Data provided by the flight-tracking service Flightradar24.com indicated a volatile flight path, characterized by a loss of altitude followed by a brief climb, and then a second, sudden, and dramatic descent. The final data transmission recorded the aircraft at an altitude of 1,100 feet, or approximately 335 meters, with a vertical descent rate of 22,400 feet per minute—a figure described by experts as an abnormally steep rate of drop. Anthony Brickhouse, an aerospace safety consultant, noted that while such extreme data points are concerning, it remains too early to draw definitive conclusions without further evidence.
The aircraft, manufactured in 1999, had a long service history, having previously operated as a passenger jet for Aeroflot and Garuda Indonesia before its conversion to a cargo configuration in 2012. It belongs to the older Boeing 737 family, pre-dating the 737 Max series by two generations. K2 Airways has confirmed it is working closely with the Pakistani Civil Aviation Authority and other relevant government agencies. In a statement posted to Facebook, the airline expressed its commitment to the search, stating, “We continue to pray, earnestly, for the safety of our colleagues.”
This incident follows a major aviation tragedy in May 2020, when a Pakistani airliner crashed in a densely populated neighborhood near the Karachi airport after experiencing engine failure during its landing approach. That crash resulted in 97 fatalities among the 98 people on board, with an official investigation later attributing the disaster to human error involving the pilots and air traffic control.
"Anytime you see something extreme like that, it catches your eye, but it is too soon to say what any of it means without more information," said Anthony Brickhouse, an aerospace safety consultant, told Reuters.
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