ISLAMABAD (AP) – The search for the five-member crew of a cargo plane operated by K2 Airways that crashed into the Arabian Sea is now in its second day. The incident took place late Tuesday, when the aircraft reported a navigation system malfunction before suddenly losing all radio and radar contact. Officials from the Pakistan Airports Authority confirmed that while wreckage was recovered on Wednesday, the missing crew members remain unaccounted for.
The aircraft disappeared approximately 300 kilometers (180 miles) southwest of Karachi while on approach from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Despite ongoing search efforts involving ships and aircraft, the main fuselage and the crew are still missing, primarily due to treacherous sea conditions that have hampered recovery efforts, as noted by two officials who spoke anonymously due to media restrictions.
On Wednesday, search and rescue teams managed to locate and recover wreckage approximately 100 kilometers (60 miles) off the coast of Ormara, a town in the Balochistan province. The debris, which is believed to be scattered over a wide area, presents significant challenges in locating the crash site because strong winds, rough seas, and shifting ocean currents can easily displace floating wreckage.
Retired Rear Admiral Faisal Shah cautioned that recovering the main wreckage from a depth of around 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) could take months or even years. He emphasized that the discovery of floating debris does not necessarily pinpoint the exact location of the crash due to the aforementioned environmental factors. His comments drew parallels to the prolonged and inconclusive search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which has never been definitively located despite extensive global efforts.
The missing crew members have been identified as Capt. Muhammad Rizwan Idris, First Officer Faisal Jatoi, flight engineers Muhammad Hamid and Muhammad Arif Siddiqui, and aircraft loader Muhammad Taufiq Khan. Families of the missing individuals continue to hold on to hope for their safe return while search operations are ongoing in the Arabian Sea.
In response to the crisis, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has instructed authorities to deploy all available resources to aid in the search and has expressed his condolences to the families of the missing crew. Additionally, data from radar indicated that the aircraft made a sharp change in its heading and descended rapidly at about 9:21 p.m. on Tuesday, mere moments before losing contact about 287 kilometers (178 miles) west of Karachi.
Pakistan has a history of severe air crashes in recent decades. Notably, in May 2020, a Pakistan International Airlines flight carrying 99 passengers crashed while attempting to land near Karachi, resulting in the deaths of 97 individuals, with subsequent investigations attributing the tragedy to human error among the pilots and air traffic controllers.
As search efforts continue, officials remain hopeful yet cautious about the possibility of finding the crew members alive, reiterating the complex and challenging nature of maritime recovery operations in such treacherous conditions.
