A K2 Airways Boeing 737-400 converted freighter went down in the northern Arabian Sea July 7 shortly after reporting a navigation issue, the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) said.
Flight KTA1732 departed Sharjah International Airport (SHJ) in the United Arab Emirates bound for Jinnah International Airport (KHI) in Karachi, Pakistan, but lost contact with air traffic control at 9:21 p.m. Pakistan time and descended rapidly into the sea. In a statement, K2 said there were five crew onboard—two pilots, one load master and two engineers.
PCAA said the crew reported a “navigation system issue” at 9:18 p.m. local time “and was promptly guided by” air traffic control.
Three minutes later, the 737 “was observed on radar rapidly descending and with rapid heading change,” PCAA said. Radar contact and communication were lost about 155 nm west of Karachi, the agency added.
Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 shows the aircraft cruising at 35,000 ft. before descending rapidly to 29,475 ft. It then briefly climbed to 36,650 ft. within about a minute before entering a steep descent, after which tracking data ceased.
The wreckage was located following a 12-hr. search by Pakistani search and rescue personnel. The debris field is 53 nm south of Ormara, Pakistan’s airport authority said in a statement. Ormara is about 140 nm west of Karachi.
“Efforts are underway to find the missing crew members,” the airport authority added.
Aviation Week Fleet Discovery data shows the 27-year-old aircraft, registered AP-BOI, entered service with Aeroflot in 1998 before joining Garuda Indonesia in 2004, where it remained until 2011. It was converted into a freighter the same year while under Celestial Aviation ownership, subsequently passing through several owners and periods of storage before entering service with K2 Airways in April 2024.
The aircraft had accumulated approximately 46,658 flight hours and 27,678 cycles.
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