Investigation Underway After K2 Airways Cargo Plane Crashes into Arabian Sea; Focus Turns to Final Two Minutes of Flight

Islamabad: Pakistani authorities have launched a formal investigation into the crash of a K2 Airways Boeing 737-400 cargo aircraft that went down in the Arabian Sea near Ormara, as search teams continue efforts to locate the five crew members who remain missing.

The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) said the wreckage of Flight KTA1732 was located about 53 nautical miles south of Ormara after a more than 12-hour search and rescue operation conducted by the Pakistan Navy and the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA).

The operation involved naval warships, maritime patrol aircraft, Pakistan Air Force assets, and the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation vessel Lahore. Authorities said rescue efforts remain ongoing despite difficult sea conditions and the vast search area.

The aircraft disappeared on Tuesday night while flying from Sharjah to Karachi. According to the PAA, the crew reported a navigation system malfunction at 9:18 p.m. (Pakistan time), prompting Karachi Area Control Centre to begin providing navigational assistance.

At 9:21 p.m., radar data showed the aircraft rapidly losing altitude and making a sudden change in direction before radar and radio contact were lost approximately 155 nautical miles west of Karachi.

Data from flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 reportedly indicates that the aircraft briefly descended, climbed again for a short period, and then entered an extremely rapid descent. The last recorded data showed the aircraft at an altitude of about 1,100 feet with a recorded vertical descent rate of 22,400 feet per minute, an unusually high rate.

The aircraft, registered AP-BOI, was carrying five crew members: Captain Muhammad Rizwan Idris, First Officer Faisal Mahmood, Flight Engineer Arif Siddiqui, Loadmaster Muhammad Toufiq Khan, and Engineer Muhammad Hamid. All remain missing.

According to local media reports, the aircraft was operating a ferry flight from Sharjah to Karachi without cargo after reportedly undergoing maintenance. However, officials have not formally confirmed those reports.

The PAA said an 11-member team from the Bureau of Safety Investigation has arrived in Karachi to examine the crash. Investigators will inspect the crash site and review the airline’s operational and technical records. The airline’s offices at Jinnah International Airport have been sealed to preserve evidence.

According to media reports citing air traffic control sources, the crew did not issue a Mayday distress call before the aircraft disappeared, suggesting the emergency may have developed too suddenly for the pilots to declare one.

Aviation journalist Imran Tahir said it would be premature to conclude that a navigation system failure alone caused the crash, noting that modern aircraft have backup systems that normally allow pilots to continue flying even if primary navigation equipment fails.

He explained that the Boeing 737-400 cargo aircraft, built in 1999, had previously served with several international airlines before being converted into a freighter in 2012. K2 Airways acquired the aircraft in 2024, and it was the airline’s only aircraft.

Tahir added that available flight data suggests the aircraft was operational and had been conducting regular flights between Karachi, Islamabad, and Sharjah. He also said the recorded communications between the pilots and air traffic control did not indicate signs of a major emergency or any request for diversion to an alternate airport.

According to his assessment, the aircraft descended from approximately 35,000 feet to 1,100 feet in just two minutes, indicating that a catastrophic failure may have occurred during the final moments of the flight. He stressed, however, that the exact cause cannot be determined until the aircraft’s flight recorders, commonly known as the black boxes, are recovered and analyzed.

Authorities have not yet confirmed whether the cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder has been located. The Pakistan Airports Authority said search and rescue operations remain in progress and further updates will be released as more information becomes available.