Islamabad/Lahore, Jul 8 (PTI): Pakistani search teams on Wednesday continued to scour the Arabian Sea to locate a cargo plane that went missing while flying from Sharjah in the UAE to Karachi with five crew members on board a day earlier.
The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) said that the Boeing 737 cargo aircraft, operated by Karachi-based private airline K2 Airways, vanished from radar after it was seen descending rapidly and making a sudden change in direction during the flight.
It said that contact with the aircraft was lost at 09:21 pm (local time) on Tuesday, about 300 kilometres west of Karachi. The aircraft went missing while flying reportedly at an altitude of 34,000 feet. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has instructed the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the Navy and the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) to utilise all available resources in the search operation, state-run Radio Pakistan reported on Wednesday.
The PAA said the personnel from several agencies are taking part in the search.
The operation includes naval vessels PNS Zulfiqar and PNS Hunain, an ATR aircraft and the Pakistan Air Force, it said. The aircraft is believed to have gone missing over the Arabian Sea, south of Ormara on the Balochistan coast. “Rough seas are making the search difficult. However, no wreckage or other signs of the aircraft have been found so far,” the PAA said.
The aircraft was carrying five crew members — Captain Muhammad Rizwan Idris, First Officer Faisal Mahmood, Loadmaster Muhammad Taufiq Khan, Engineer Arif Siddiqui and Engineer Muhammad Hamid. The aircraft reportedly had remained in Sharjah for about 10 days after developing a technical fault. The PAA earlier said that the cargo flight reported a navigational system issue at 09.18 pm (local time) on Tuesday and was promptly guided by Karachi Area Control Centre (ACC).
“However, at 09:22 pm (local time), the aircraft was observed on radar rapidly descending with a rapid heading change. Subsequently, radar contact and communication were lost approximately 155 NM west of Karachi,” it said.
Commercial vessels operated by the National Shipping Corporation have likewise been deployed to help scan the waters, bringing together military and civilian resources in the hunt for the missing plane, sources said.
