PM Shehbaz expresses sorrow over tragic incident in which “cargo aircraft crashed into Arabian sea and went missing”

Nazir Siyal

KARACHI: The Pakistan Navy and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) are conducting a joint search operation to locate a missing private cargo aircraft.

During the operation, which has been ongoing for more than 12 hours at sea, the wreckage of the aircraft was discovered approximately 53 nautical miles south of Ormara’s coast.

Rescue efforts remain underway to recover further evidence and search for the crew members. Both naval and aerial assets of the Pakistan Navy and PMSA are actively engaged in the operation.

The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) said late on Tuesday that the cargo aircraft, carrying five crew members, went missing around 155 nautical miles west of Karachi after losing contact while flying from Sharjah.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed “deep sorrow, grief, and regret over the tragic incident in which a private cargo aircraft (K2 Airways) flying from Sharjah to Karachi crashed into the Arabian Sea and went missing”.

He offered condolences to the families of the five crew members on board and directed Pakistan civil aviation authorities, the navy and the air force to intensify search and rescue operations and use all available resources.

According to sources, Pakistan Navy, Pakistan Air Force and merchant vessels are participating in the ongoing search and rescue operation, with maritime and aerial resources deployed to locate the missing aircraft.

The Pakistan Navy has dispatched the warship PNS Zulfiqar to join the search and rescue effort, while a Pakistan Air Force Saab surveillance aircraft is also taking part in the operation, according to sources. A Navy ATR aircraft has flown out from Turbat to assist, joining the wider search from the air.

PNS Hunain has also been dispatched to the affected area to take part in the search and rescue operation, sources said.

In a statement, the cargo company’s spokesperson said the aircraft was travelling from Sharjah to Karachi when contact with air traffic control was lost at 9:21pm on Wednesday.

The company identified the five crew members as pilot Muhammad Rizwan Idris, first officer Faisal Mehmood, loadmaster Muhammad Taufiq, engineer Arif Siddiqui, and Muhammad Hamid.

Meanwhile, sources said the cargo company’s office at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport had been sealed to preserve records following the incident.

A day earlier, flight tracking data showed the aircraft, flight TA1732, was cruising normally at an altitude of 35,000 feet and a speed of 790 kilometres per hour when it encountered unusual circumstances. The data indicated that the aircraft abruptly made a U-turn before entering a rapid descent.

Within five minutes, it had lost approximately 34,000 feet of altitude, eventually dropping to 1,100 feet while slowing to 211 kilometres per hour before disappearing from radar, FlightRadar data showed.

The pilot of the missing cargo aircraft did not issue a Mayday distress call before contact was lost, an air traffic controller told Geo News, adding that the crew may not have had time to do so given how quickly the emergency appears to have unfolded.

In 2010, a Russian cargo aircraft carrying eight people crashed in a residential area of Karachi shortly after taking off from the city’s airport.