Pakistani cargo aircraft vanishes over Arabian Sea near Karachi
Dhaka: A K2 Airways Boeing 737-400 cargo aircraft carrying five crew members disappeared over the Arabian Sea on the night of July 7 while flying from Sharjah to Karachi after reporting a navigation malfunction, triggering a multi-agency search and rescue operation.
The Pakistan Airports Authority said the privately operated freighter, operating as flight TA1732, lost contact with air traffic control after reporting problems with its navigation system. The Karachi Area Control Centre offered navigational assistance, but the aircraft soon began rapidly losing altitude while changing course.
The jet reported the issue at 9:18 pm and was cruising at 35,000 feet at roughly 442 knots. By 9:21 pm, it was seen "rapidly descending" with a sharp change in heading before radar and radio contact were lost about 287-300 kilometers west of Karachi.
Preliminary ADS-B data indicated a loss of altitude, followed by a climb, then a second, sudden loss of altitude. The final data point placed the aircraft at 1,100 feet above mean sea level, with a reported vertical rate of -22,400 feet per minute.
According to flight-tracking services, the aircraft experienced GNSS interference shortly after takeoff, along with other aircraft in the region, causing degraded navigation data near Sharjah. Normal ADS-B data resumed once the jet exited the interference zone, before contact was lost entirely near Karachi.
The Rescue Coordination Centre was activated immediately, launching a maritime search and rescue operation. The Pakistan Navy dispatched vessel PNS Zulfiquar to the suspected crash site, while the Pakistan Air Force deployed a Saab surveillance aircraft for aerial reconnaissance over the Arabian Sea.
The Pakistan National Shipping Corporation's merchant vessel Lahore also joined the search, along with an ATR aircraft that departed from Turbat. Other relevant agencies were mobilized as the operation expanded.
Sources said the aircraft had flown to Sharjah for repairs on June 28 before operating the return cargo flight to Karachi. The Bureau of Air Safety Investigation will investigate the cause of the disappearance.
K2 Airways is a private carrier based in Karachi, established in May 2018 after being granted an airline charter license by the government. The missing aircraft, registered AP-BOI, was a Boeing 737-400(BDSF) that entered service with the airline in 2024.
The jet was originally delivered to Aeroflot as a passenger aircraft in 1999, before joining Garuda Indonesia in 2004. It was converted into a freighter in 2012 and later operated by TNT Airways and ASL Airlines before joining K2 Airways' fleet.
