A Pakistani cargo aircraft carrying five crew members disappeared from radar over the Arabian Sea late on Tuesday night, shortly after the pilots reported a navigational system problem while approaching Karachi from Sharjah, according to Pakistani aviation authorities. The Boeing 737-400 freighter, operated by the Karachi-based private carrier K2 Airways, was about 155 nautical miles west of the port city when air traffic controllers lost both radio and radar contact at approximately 9:21 p.m. local time.

Pakistan’s Airports Authority activated its Rescue Coordination Centre and launched a coordinated search-and-rescue operation involving naval vessels, air force surveillance aircraft, and a commercial ship. The crew was identified by the airline as Pilot in Command Mohammad Rizwan Idrees, First Officer Faisal Mehmood, Load Master Muhammad Toufique Khan, and engineers Arif Siddiqui and Mohammad Hamid. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed “deep grief and sorrow” and directed all available resources to be used, while his office extended condolences to the families — a statement that, viewed from Islamabad, appeared to presume fatalities even though no wreckage had been located.

Preliminary flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 showed the 27-year-old converted freighter experienced extreme altitude fluctuations in its final minutes: a plunge of roughly 5,000 feet in under a minute, a brief climb of some 6,000 feet, and then a catastrophic dive from 36,550 feet. The last transmitted data point placed the aircraft at 1,100 feet above sea level with a vertical descent rate of 22,400 feet per minute, an abnormal profile that aerospace safety consultants in London and the United States described as indicative of a possible loss of control. Pakistani aviation expert Imran Aslam told local media that even an engine failure would not normally produce such an abrupt descent. The aircraft had reported a navigational system issue at 9:18 p.m., and the final radio transmission, according to regional media citing air traffic recordings, was the phrase “rolling or floating, 1732.”

As of Wednesday, no debris or confirmed crash site had been found, and the Pakistan Airports Authority maintained that the aircraft’s status was officially “missing.” The search, hampered by monsoon-season sea conditions, continued with the navy frigate PNS Zulfiqar and air force assets scanning the area. The aircraft, originally delivered as a passenger jet to Russia’s Aeroflot in 1999 and converted to a freighter in 2012, was the only plane in K2 Airways’ fleet and had entered service with the carrier in 2024. The Bureau of Air Safety Investigation is expected to lead the inquiry once the aircraft is located.