Search and rescue teams have recovered the wreckage of the cargo plane that crashed into the Arabian Sea on Tuesday night.
The K2 Airways Cargo 737 aircraft, which was en route to Karachi from Sharjah, disappeared from radar off the coast of Pakistan after a navigation system problem.
Flight data showed the plane, which had five crew, experienced a loss of altitude and a rapid descent, followed by another climb and then a second sudden loss of altitude.
Air and sea rescue teams were dispatched to the area and after 12 hours of deep sea search, the wreckage was recovered almost 100km south of the Pakistan port of Ormara.
Efforts are now under way to find the missing crew members.
The Pakistan Aviation Authority announced the discovery of the plane wreckage in a post on social media.
The authority shared images of teams recovering parts of the plane, with the K2 Air logo displayed.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif extended his condolences to the families of the five crew on board the K2 Airways Cargo flight, his government said on social media. It said he “expressed profound grief and sorrow over the tragic incident”.
“The Prime Minister has extended heartfelt condolences to the families of the five crew members aboard the aircraft,” the government post said.
Pakistan aviation authorities said earlier on Tuesday that the aircraft “lost contact with air traffic control at about 21.21 hours according to Pakistan time”.
The airline released the names of the five people on board the flight ‐ pilot Mohammad Rizwan Idrees, first officer Faisal Mehmood, load master Muhammad Toufique Khan, and engineers Arif Siddiqui and Mohammad Hamid.
K2 Airways, which has its headquarters in Karachi, is a private cargo airline established in 2018 under an airline charter licence issued by the Pakistani government.
The Boeing 737 began service with K2 Airways in 2024 and had previously been operated by the Russian airline Aeroflot in 1999 and by Garuda Indonesia in 2004.
In 2012, it was converted into a cargo plane and operated by TNT Airways and ASL Airlines, before being transferred to a Pakistani operator to move cargo around the Arabian Gulf and the wider region.
The last major plane crash in Pakistan occurred in May 2020, when 97 people were killed when an Airbus A320 operated by Pakistan International Airlines went down in a crowded neighbourhood near the airport in the port city of Karachi.
Two people survived the crash, including Zafar Masood, a bank executive.
Eighteen homes were damaged but no one was killed, mainly because residents were gathered at nearby mosque, officials said at the time. Eight people on the ground were injured.
