- Search and rescue launched in Arabian Sea after K2 Airways Boeing 737-400 freighter vanished off Karachi coast; five crew aboard.
- Pilots reported navigation system malfunction minutes before sudden violent upset, rapid descent, and loss of radar and radio contact.
- Preliminary ADS-B data shows extreme attitude changes, near vertical dive to about 1,100 feet; authorities have not confirmed a crash yet.
A search and rescue operation is underway in the Arabian Sea after a K2 Airways cargo aircraft carrying five crew members disappeared from radar on Tuesday night, minutes after its pilots reported a navigation system malfunction on approach to Pakistani airspace.
The aircraft, a Boeing 737-400 freighter operating flight KTA1732 from Sharjah to Karachi, contacted the Karachi Area Control Centre at 9:18pm PST to report a problem with its navigation systems, according to the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA). Controllers immediately began providing the crew with navigational assistance.
Three minutes later, at 9:21pm, the situation deteriorated abruptly. Radar showed the jet in a rapid descent with a sudden change in heading before both radar contact and radio communication were lost, roughly 155 nautical miles (about 300 km) west of Karachi. Repeated calls from air traffic control went unanswered.
BREAKING: Boeing 737 cargo plane carrying 5 people disappears from radar west of Karachi; search and rescue underway, airport authority says
(Tracker: Flightradar24) pic.twitter.com/3epNriuyst
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) July 7, 2026
Preliminary ADS-B data from Flightradar24 paints an alarming picture of the flight’s final three minutes. At 16:18 UTC (9:18pm PST) — the same moment the crew radioed Karachi about the navigation problem — the jet was passing through 34,950 feet at 446 knots, in a gentle descent, its track beginning to drift right of course. One minute later the data shows a violent upset: the aircraft’s heading had swung nearly 140 degrees back toward the west, its speed was bleeding away, and its vertical speed was oscillating wildly, at one point registering a climb of almost 18,000 feet per minute.
The last data point, at 16:21 UTC, placed the aircraft at just 1,100 feet above the sea, descending at 22,400 feet per minute with a ground speed of only 114 knots — figures consistent with a near-vertical, uncontrolled dive rather than any attempt at an emergency descent.
Pakistan’s Rescue Coordination Centre was activated shortly after contact was lost, and a multi-agency search operation at sea is ongoing. Officials have confirmed five crew members were on board but have released no information about their condition. As of Wednesday, authorities had not formally confirmed a crash, though the flight data leaves little room for optimism.
The aircraft, registered AP-BOI, is a 27-year-old converted freighter with a long history. Delivered to Aeroflot as a passenger jet in 1999, it later flew for Garuda Indonesia before being converted to cargo configuration in 2012, serving TNT Airways and ASL Airlines. It joined K2 Airways, a private Karachi-based cargo carrier founded in 2018, in 2024.
