A K2 Airways Boeing 737-400 cargo aircraft travelling from Sharjah to Karachi disappeared from radar over the Arabian Sea on Tuesday night, with five crew members on board, prompting an emergency search and rescue operation.
The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) confirmed that the aircraft reported a navigational system issue at 9:18 pm Pakistan Standard Time and was immediately guided by the Karachi Area Control Centre (ACC). However, just three minutes later, at 9:21 pm, the aircraft was observed on radar rapidly descending and making a sharp change in heading, after which radar contact and all communication were simultaneously lost, approximately 287 kilometres west of Karachi.
Preliminary ADS-B data indicated a loss of altitude, followed by a climb, and then a second, sudden and dramatic loss of altitude, with the final received data point placing the aircraft at 1,100 feet above mean sea level with a reported vertical rate of -22,400 feet per minute.
Flight tracking service FlightRadar24 also noted that the aircraft experienced GNSS interference shortly after take-off from Sharjah, along with other aircraft in the region, resulting in degraded navigation data near the UAE. Once the aircraft exited the zone of interference, ADS-B data was again received before contact was ultimately lost.
Following the incident, the Rescue Coordination Centre was immediately activated and a coordinated search and rescue operation was launched in the Arabian Sea, with multiple agencies participating in the effort to locate the missing aircraft. The Bureau of Air Safety Investigation has been tasked with investigating the cause of the crash.
The aircraft, registered as AP-BOI, is a Boeing 737-4M0 that entered service with K2 Airways in 2024. K2 Airways is a private cargo airline based in Karachi, established in May 2018.
