The wreckage of the K2 Airways Boeing 737-400 freighter that disappeared over the Arabian Sea during a flight to Karachi earlier this week has been identified.
The Pakistan Airports Authority said that the aircraft was discovered off the coast of Karachi after a 12-hour search and rescue operation.
The aircraft was located around 98 km south of the port of Ormara and efforts are now underway to find the five missing crew members.
The aircraft had departed Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates on 7 July but lost contact at 21:21 Pakistan local time.
Pakistan’s civil aviation authority said the crew “reported navigational system issue” at 21:18, and was in contact with Karachi area control centre.
However, the aircraft was then seen on radar displays to be “rapidly descending” with a “rapid heading change” and contact was lost at 21:21, with the jet 155nm west of Karachi.
K2 Airways said the aircraft was carrying two pilots, two engineers and a loadmaster.
Public flight-tracking data, yet to be verified, suggests the aircraft was cruising at 35,000ft, some 1h 20min after departure, when it deviated from its heading and lost altitude over the Arabian Sea.
The airline identified the missing twinjet as AP-BOI, a 1999 airframe formerly in service with Aeroflot and Garuda Indonesia before being converted to a freighter.
The company has not specified the nature of any cargo on board, and whether it included any hazardous goods.
K2 Airways is a relatively young carrier, having been established in 2018. The company said its first aircraft arrived in Karachi two years ago, in July 2024.
