KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Navy and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) on Wednesday located the wreckage of a cargo aircraft that had gone missing late Tuesday, approximately 53 nautical miles south of the Ormara coast.
After more than 12 hours of intensive search operations, naval and maritime authorities located the wreckage in the Arabian Sea, Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) said in a statement.
The Pakistan Navy and PMSA naval and aerial assets remain actively engaged in rescue and recovery operations. Search teams are continuing to comb the area where the wreckage was discovered to locate the crew members and gather further evidence to determine the cause of the crash, the statement added.
The PAA had said late Tuesday that a cargo aircraft operated by a private company, carrying five crew members, went missing after losing contact while flying from Sharjah to Karachi. The aircraft disappeared from radar approximately 155 nautical miles west of Karachi.
According to sources, the Pakistan Navy, Pakistan Air Force and several merchant vessels have been participating in the ongoing search and rescue operation, with both maritime and aerial resources deployed to locate the missing aircraft and support recovery efforts. The Pakistan Navy dispatched the warship PNS Zulfiqar to join the search mission, while a Pakistan Air Force Saab surveillance aircraft has also been participating in the operation, the sources said. A Pakistan Navy ATR aircraft also departed from Turbat to assist in the mission, joining the wider aerial search over the Arabian Sea. PNS Hunain was also dispatched to the affected area to reinforce the search and rescue operation, according to the sources.
In a statement, the cargo company’s spokesperson said the aircraft was travelling from Sharjah to Karachi when contact with air traffic control was lost at 9:21pm on Tuesday night. The company identified the five crew members as Captain Muhammad Rizwan Idris, First Officer Faisal Mehmood, Loadmaster Muhammad Taufiq, Engineer Arif Siddiqui, and Muhammad Hamid.
Meanwhile, sources said the cargo company’s office at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport had been sealed to preserve records and documents as part of the investigation into the incident. Flight tracking data released a day earlier showed that the aircraft, operating as Flight TA1732, had been cruising normally at an altitude of 35,000 feet and a speed of approximately 790 kilometres per hour when it encountered unusual circumstances. The tracking data indicated that the aircraft abruptly made a U-turn before entering a rapid descent.
Within five minutes, the aircraft had lost nearly 34,000 feet of altitude, eventually descending to around 1,100 feet while slowing to approximately 211 kilometres per hour before disappearing from radar, according to FlightRadar data. The pilot of the missing cargo aircraft did not issue a Mayday distress call before contact was lost, an air traffic controller told Geo News, suggesting that the crew may not have had sufficient time to declare an emergency given the speed at which the incident appears to have unfolded.
K2 Airways, the private cargo airline whose Boeing 737 aircraft crashed near Karachi, is a single-aircraft cargo carrier established by an overseas Pakistani entrepreneur.
The airline’s Boeing 737 cargo aircraft, operating as Pakistan Cargo Flight TA1732, was en route from Sharjah to Karachi when it rapidly lost communication with radar approximately 155 nautical miles (around 300 kilometres) west of Karachi on the night of July 7. Overseas Pakistani entrepreneur Tariq Majeed Raja established the K2 Airways in May 2018 under an Airline Charter Licence. However, the airline commenced cargo operations only after its inaugural Boeing 737-400SF freighter arrived in Karachi on July 1, 2024.
“As a Pakistani living abroad, I have always been driven to give back to my country. By combining my passion for aviation with a methodical approach, I established K2 Airways in 2018 to make a meaningful impact,” founder and Chief Executive Officer Tariq Majeed Raja said in a message posted on the company’s website. According to the company, its mission is to contribute to Pakistan’s economic development by creating employment opportunities, strengthening global connectivity and introducing advanced aviation technology. The airline also plans to expand its fleet and operations in the future to further strengthen its position in Pakistan’s air cargo sector.
