Cargo plane wreckage found off Pakistan, crew still missing
Pakistani authorities have found the wreckage of a Boeing 737 cargo plane that disappeared off the country’s southern coast as the search for five crew continues
The plane, operated by the private Pakistani airline K2 Airways, rapidly descended and lost contact with air traffic controllers on Tuesday after departing the United Arab Emirates.
Debris from the missing cargo plane is recovered by searchers off the Pakistan coast. Pakistan Navy
Shortly before losing contact with air traffic control, the aircraft’s pilot reported navigational problems.
Radar data showed the aircraft rapidly descending and making a sharp change in heading at about 9.21pm on Tuesday before radar and radio contact were lost about 155 nautical miles (287 kilometres) west of Karachi.
The Pakistani navy and civilian teams in planes and ships discovered the plane wreckage after about 12 hours of searching in the Arabian Sea, Pakistan’s Airports Authority said in a post on X.
Retired Rear-Admiral Faisal Shah said searchers were dealing with rough seas and that they were still looking for the main wreckage of the plane, which could prove much more difficult to find because the area is believed to be about 3000 metres deep, requiring specialised equipment.
He said recovering debris does not necessarily reveal the aircraft’s exact crash site because ocean currents, waves and wind can carry the floating wreckage far from where the aircraft went down.
Wreckage from the cargo plane displayed on a Pakistani naval ship. The crew members remain missing. Pakistan Navy
In a statement, K2 Airways identified the missing crew as Captain Muhammad Rizwan Idris, First Officer Faisal Jatoi, flight engineers Muhammad Hamid and Muhammad Arif Siddiqui, and aircraft loader Muhammad Taufiq Khan.
“We continue to pray earnestly for the safety of our colleagues,” it said.
Ghulam Nabi Bahrani, the father-in-law of co-pilot Faisal Jatoi, said the family was in regular contact with him while he was in Sharjah, and that he had called his wife shortly before departure on Tuesday. Bahrani said government officials have been in contact with the family since the aircraft disappeared.
“All we can do is wait and pray for a miracle,” he said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif released a statement expressing sympathy with the families of the five crew members, and directed the government to deploy all available resources for the search effort.
In May 2020 a Pakistani jetliner carrying 98 people crashed in a crowded neighbourhood near the airport in Karachi, the capital of Sindh province, after an apparent engine failure during landing.
All but one passenger died in the crash. Later, Pakistan’s government released a report saying human error on the part of the pilot, the co-pilot and air traffic control caused the Pakistan International Airlines crash.
Reported with AP
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