Search teams with the Pakistan Navy have pulled additional wreckage from the Arabian Sea following the crash of a cargo plane earlier this week, as rescuers pressed into a third day Friday in their effort to find five missing crew members.
The Pakistan Airports Authority announced via social media platform X that the Pakistan Navy and the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency were continuing search-and-rescue operations in deep waters, deploying aircraft and other resources in a coordinated mission to locate the missing crew. The authority indicated further details would be released at a later time, and the cause of the crash is still under investigation.
The aircraft, operated by Karachi-based private carrier K2 Airways, vanished from radar late Tuesday evening while on a flight from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates bound for Karachi, Pakistan. Before disappearing, the crew reported a malfunction in the plane’s navigation system.
The first pieces of debris were found Wednesday, approximately 100 kilometers — or about 60 miles — off the coastal town of Ormara along Pakistan’s southwestern Makran coast in Balochistan province. Despite those discoveries, the main body of the aircraft and all five crew members have yet to be found.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered authorities to deploy every available resource in the search for the missing crew. K2 Airways has also stated it is fully cooperating with civil aviation officials conducting the crash investigation.
Rescuers have faced significant challenges due to harsh weather conditions at sea, including rough waters, powerful winds, and shifting ocean currents that can spread floating debris across a wide area and make it harder to identify the precise crash location.
According to the Pakistan Airports Authority, radar data showed the plane made a sudden change in direction and dropped rapidly in altitude before all radio and radar contact was lost at approximately 9:21 p.m. Tuesday. At that point, the aircraft was roughly 287 kilometers — around 178 miles — west of Karachi.
Pakistan has a history of deadly aviation accidents spanning several decades.
