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Pakistani authorities on Wednesday continued searching for a Boeing cargo aircraft that went missing off the coast of Karachi after disappearing from radar while approaching the country’s largest city.
The aircraft, operated by private carrier K2 Airways, was flying from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to Karachi with five crew members on board when contact was lost on Tuesday evening, the Pakistan Airport Authority (PAA) said.
According to the PAA, the crew reported a navigational system malfunction shortly before the aircraft disappeared.
Radar data showed the plane making a rapid descent and an abrupt change in heading at around 9:21 pm local time, before communication was lost approximately 155 nautical miles west of Karachi.
The authority immediately activated its Rescue Coordination Centre and launched a search-and-rescue operation involving maritime and aviation agencies to locate the missing aircraft.
Flight-tracking service Flightradar24 said preliminary flight data indicated the aircraft first experienced a loss of altitude, briefly climbed again, and then suffered a second, much steeper descent before disappearing from radar.
No distress signal or emergency landing has yet been reported, and the fate of the aircraft and its crew remains unknown.
K2 Airways operates scheduled and charter cargo services within Pakistan and on international routes.
According to aviation database Airfleets.net, the aircraft was built in 1999 and initially served as a passenger jet with Aeroflot and Garuda Indonesia before being converted into a freighter in 2012.
Authorities said search operations would continue until the aircraft and its crew are located.
