Boeing 737 Cargo Plane Crashes After Take-Off, Wreckage Found in Arabian Sea
The wreckage of a K2 Airways Boeing 737 cargo plane that went missing after take-off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been found in the Arabian Sea, off the coast of Ormara, Pakistan. The debris was located following a 12-hour search by the navy and maritime rescue teams from Islamabad.
The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PAA) stated that the aircraft wreckage was identified on Wednesday. The plane was carrying five crew members on a cargo flight from Sharjah, UAE, to Karachi.
“Efforts are being made to locate the missing crew members,” the PAA said in a statement.
Prior to the discovery of the wreckage, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his condolences over the incident, calling it a tragedy after the private cargo plane was reported to have crashed into the Arabian Sea and disappeared. The government also ordered the civil aviation authority, navy, and air force to deploy all resources to expedite the search and rescue operation.
Initial radar data indicated the aircraft experienced problems moments before it vanished from monitoring. According to the PAA, the Boeing 737 suddenly lost altitude, then rapidly climbed before turning sharply after a few minutes. Flight tracking service Flightradar24 noted that the aircraft experienced a descent, climbed again, and then suffered a second, very drastic descent.
The last transmission from the cockpit also indicated an emergency situation. The crew reportedly informed air traffic control that the aircraft was experiencing a “rolling or floating” condition after previously reporting a navigation system malfunction minutes before contact was lost.
Contact with the aircraft was lost at approximately 21:21 WIB when it was about 155 nautical miles, or roughly 287 kilometres, west of Karachi. K2 Airways stated it is cooperating fully with the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority and all government agencies involved in the investigation. The airline has also disclosed the identities of the five crew members and continues to pray for their safety.
The crashed aircraft was manufactured in 1999 and was previously operated as a passenger plane by Aeroflot and Garuda Indonesia before being converted into a freighter in 2012. The Boeing 737 began operations with K2 Airways in 2024 and was the only aircraft in the airline’s fleet.
The exact cause of the crash remains under investigation. If all crew members are confirmed deceased, this incident would be the first fatal plane crash in Pakistan since the Pakistan International Airlines flight PIA 8303 crash in Karachi in 2020, which killed 97 people.