Rescuers are desperately searching for five missing passengers after the wreckage of a Boeing 737 cargo plane that vanished off the coast of Pakistan was located in the Arabian Sea. The aircraft, operated by K2 Airways, was traveling from Karachi in southern Pakistan to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday when it suddenly lost contact with air traffic controllers.
Pilot's Final Transmission
Chilling details have emerged regarding the pilot's final words before the plane disappeared. The pilot reportedly raised an alarm that the plane was “rolling or floating,” terms that refer to a phase of flight and a landing error, respectively. The Boeing 737 rapidly descended and made a sharp turn before losing contact with air traffic control at 21:21 local time.
Search and Recovery Efforts
Pakistan's navy and maritime rescue agency announced on Wednesday that after 12 hours of searching, they had “successfully located and identified wreckage of K2 Airways Cargo B737 which was declared missing last night,” according to a statement from the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) posted on X. The wreckage was found off Ormara town on Pakistan's southern coast. “Efforts are underway to find the missing crew members,” the PAA added.
Prior to locating the wreckage, Pakistan's civil aviation authorities, navy, and air force were directed to intensify search and rescue operations and use all available resources to locate the missing plane, as per a statement from the Prime Minister's office.
Visual Evidence
The PAA published images showing personnel lifting pieces of the fuselage from a small boat onto a larger vessel, as well as red and white debris with the words “K2 Air” laid out on the ship's deck. The cause of the incident is not yet known.
Historical Context
The last major aviation incident in Pakistan involved a domestic passenger flight in 2020. In that incident, a Pakistan International Airlines plane crashed while approaching Karachi airport, killing all but two of the 99 people on board.
