SRINAGAR: A Pakistan-registered Boeing 737 cargo aircraft carrying five crew members lost contact with air traffic control on Tuesday night after reporting a navigational system fault while flying from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to Karachi, Pakistani aviation authorities said, according to multiple media reports.
According to the authorities, communication with the aircraft was lost after the crew reported a problem with its navigation system during the flight.
Early flight data suggested the 27-year-old Boeing 737-400 freighter, operated by K2 Airways, may have crashed into the Arabian Sea south-west of Karachi following a series of sharp altitude changes and a steep final descent, Reuters reported.
The aircraft went missing over the Arabian Sea near Ormara in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, Geo News reported.
Flight-tracking service Flightradar24 said the aircraft appeared to experience multiple abrupt altitude changes before entering a steep final descent.
The Pakistan Airports Authority said in a Facebook post that a coordinated search-and-rescue operation involving multiple agencies had been launched to locate the missing aircraft.
There was no immediate official confirmation of a crash, and the fate of the aircraft and its five crew members remained unknown at the time of filing this report.
