A K2 Airways Boeing 737-400 cargo freighter flying from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to Karachi disappeared from radar at 9:21 PM local time Tuesday night, three minutes after its crew reported a navigational system failure to the Karachi Area Control Centre.
There were five Pakistani crew members on board and no passengers. As of Wednesday morning, no wreckage has been found and no survivors have been confirmed.
The Pakistan Airports Authority confirmed the sequence of events, the crew reported the navigation problem at 9:18 PM. Controllers began guiding the flight.
At 9:21 PM, radar showed the aircraft descending rapidly with a sharp and sudden change in heading before all radar and radio contact was lost approximately 155 nautical miles west-southwest of Karachi over the open waters of the Arabian Sea.
Flightradar24's preliminary ADS-B data indicates a possible crash, the tracking service logged extreme attitude changes consistent with a near-vertical dive before signal loss.
Pakistani authorities launched a multi-agency search immediately. The Pakistan Navy's warship PNS Zulfiqar was dispatched. Pakistan Air Force and Navy aircraft are conducting aerial searches.
A Pakistan National Shipping Corporation vessel has also been diverted to assist. The Bureau of Air Safety Investigation has been tasked with the inquiry.
The aircraft is registered AP-BOI, a 27-year-old Boeing 737-400 that began life as a passenger jet with Aeroflot in 1999, flew for Garuda Indonesia, was converted to a freighter in 2012 for TNT Airways and ASL Airlines, and joined K2 Airways in 2024. It was the airline's only aircraft. The search continues.