Civilian and naval search teams off the coast of Pakistan located and recovered wreckage Wednesday from a cargo plane that disappeared while on approach to the southern port city of Karachi, with the hunt for five missing crew members still ongoing, officials confirmed.
The aircraft, belonging to private carrier K2 Airways, had taken off from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. Before contact was lost, the crew reported a problem with the plane’s navigational system. Radar and radio contact went silent late Tuesday night.
Pakistan’s Airports Authority announced on X that navy vessels and civilian aircraft and ships found the wreckage after roughly 12 hours of searching in the Arabian Sea. The effort to locate the five people who were on board continues.
Three officials with knowledge of the search operation, speaking anonymously due to the sensitive nature of the situation, said rescue teams are facing major obstacles — including a vast search zone and turbulent monsoon-season waters.
Pakistan’s Airports Authority previously reported that radar data captured the plane making a sudden change in direction and dropping rapidly before disappearing from radar at approximately 9:21 p.m., at a point roughly 155 nautical miles — about 178 miles — west of Karachi.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered his condolences to the families of the missing crew members and ordered the government to commit every available resource to the search, according to a statement from his office.
K2 Airways released a statement identifying the five missing crew members as Capt. Muhammad Rizwan Idris, First Officer Faisal Jatoi, flight engineers Muhammad Hamid and Muhammad Arif Siddiqui, and aircraft loader Muhammad Taufiq Khan. “We continue to pray earnestly for the safety of our colleagues,” the airline said.
Aviation expert Imran Aslam, speaking to local broadcaster ARY News on Tuesday night, said the cause of the disappearance remained unknown. He noted that even a complete engine failure would typically allow a plane to glide rather than drop abruptly from radar. He added that investigators would need to gather more evidence before the true cause could be determined.
Pakistan has experienced notable aviation disasters in recent years. In May 2020, a Pakistan International Airlines flight carrying 98 passengers and crew went down in a heavily populated area near Karachi’s airport while attempting to land. All but one of the 99 people on board lost their lives. A subsequent government inquiry determined that mistakes made by the pilots and air traffic controllers were responsible for the crash.
