Debris Recovered After Cargo Plane Crashes Off Pakistan Coast

Rescue crews have recovered debris from a plane that crashed off the coast off Pakistan.

The Pakistan Airports Authority shared radar data that showed the aircraft rapidly descending before radar and radio contact were lost.

What's next?

The search for five missing crew members continues.

Pakistani rescue crews have battled rough sea conditions to recover parts of a Boeing cargo plane that crashed into the Arabian Sea.

Five crew members aboard the K2 Airways Boeing 737 cargo plane remain missing.

The Pakistan Airports Authority shared data indicating that the plane rapidly descended before radar and radio contact were lost at about 9:21pm local time on Tuesday, approximately 155 nautical miles (290 kilometres) west of Karachi.

The aircraft was en route to Karachi from the UAE.

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,” the airline said in a statement.

Retired Pakistani Rear Admiral Faisal Shah said searchers were dealing with rough seas and that they were still looking for the bulk of the wreckage, which could be 3,000 metres below the surface.

He said ocean currents, waves and wind could carry the floating wreckage far from where the aircraft went down.

In May 2020 a Pakistan International Airlines flight carrying 98 people crashed into a densely populated neighbourhood near Karachi airport while attempting to land.

All but one of the 99 people on board were killed.

A government investigation later concluded that errors by the pilots and air traffic controllers caused the crash.