Says efforts underway to find missing crew members; PM Shehbaz expresses grief over missing plane
islamabad
The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) said on Wednesday that the wreckage of the K2 Airways cargo plane that went missing last night was found south of Ormara following a search and rescue operation.
It said the Pakistan Navy and its Pakistan Maritime Security Agency successfully located and identified the wreckage 53 nautical miles south of Ormara after 12 hours of search and rescue operations in the deep sea.
It added that various air and sea-borne assets were employed to locate the wreckage, and efforts were underway to find the missing crew members, with further details to follow as the operation progressed.
The airline earlier said it was fully cooperating with the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority and other government agencies after its cargo aircraft disappeared following a crash into the Arabian Sea while en route from Sharjah to Karachi.
The statement was the first official response issued by the private airline since news of the aircraft’s disappearance emerged on Tuesday night.
In the statement, the airline said its Boeing 737-400 cargo aircraft, registration AP-BOI, was going from Sharjah to Karachi when it “lost contact with Air Traffic Control at about 21:21 hours according to Pakistan time.”
The airline confirmed that five crew members were on board the aircraft when contact was lost.
The crew comprised Captain Mohammad Rizwan Idrees, the pilot in command, Faisal Mehmood, the first officer, Muhammad Toufique Khan, the load master, and engineers Arif Siddiqui and Muhammad Hamid.
The airline concluded by expressing hope for the missing crew, saying, “We continue to pray, earnestly, for the safety of our colleagues.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed deep grief and sorrow over the disappearance of the cargo aircraft, according to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
The prime minister also expressed his heartfelt sympathies to the families of the five crew members on board the aircraft, the PMO said.
The premier directed the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority, Pakistan Navy, and Pakistan Air Force to intensify search and rescue operations in the Arabian Sea and utilise all available resources in the effort, it added.
President Asif Ali Zardari also expressed concern over the situation.
Search and rescue operation
Late on Tuesday night, the PAA said that a search and rescue operation was underway after an aircraft of K2 Airways with five crew members aboard was reported missing off the coast of Karachi.
In a series of posts on X, the PAA said a K2 Airways Boeing 737 cargo flight was en route from Sharjah to Karachi at 2118 PST when it reported a navigational system issue and was promptly guided by the Karachi Area Control Centre. ”However, at time 2121 PST, the aircraft was observed on radar rapidly descending and with rapid heading change, subsequently, radar contact and communication were lost approximately 155 nautical miles west of Karachi,” the PAA said.
