A massive international search operation is underway in the Arabian Sea after a Pakistan-registered cargo plane Boeing 737-400BDSF suddenly disappeared from radars. The Flight Incident KTA1732 of the private airline K2 Airways occurred late in the evening of July 7 (early morning of July 8 Bulgarian time), provoking immediate mobilization of the Pakistani air force and navy.
Timeline of the fatal minutes
The plane (with registration number AP-BOI) was on a routine cargo flight from Sharjah International Airport (UAE) to Jinnah International Airport in Karachi. According to the Pakistan Aviation Authority (PAA), the crew contacted Karachi Air Traffic Control at 9:18 p.m. local time (7:18 p.m. Bulgarian time), reporting serious technical problem with the navigation system and requesting an emergency course.
Controllers immediately began navigating the plane, but just three minutes later — at 9:21 p.m. local time — radar systems reported a sharp and anomalous change in course, accompanied by a sudden loss of altitude. Communication with the five people on board was permanently lost about 155 nautical miles (about 287 km) west of Karachi, near the coastal town of Ormara.
Disturbing flight data
Experts from the global flight tracking platform Flightradar24 have published the primary ADS-B data from the plane's transponder, which points to a possible crash. According to the recordings, the plane initially loses altitude, then makes a brief attempt to climb, followed by second, shock and vertical descent.
The last intercepted signal placed the Boeing at just 1,100 feet (about 335 meters) above sea level, moving at the extreme and catastrophic vertical speed of falling from minus 22,400 feet per minute.
“I still can't understand how the plane fell so sharply instead of gliding in the air“, a local aviation expert told the media, quoted by The Washington Post.
An interesting detail in the investigation is that shortly after taking off from the UAE, the plane passed through an area with active mass jamming of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), which has necessitated a switch to alternative ground tracking.
Airplane and Airline Profile
The missing Boeing 737 was manufactured in 1999 and for years carried passengers for airlines such as Russia's “Aeroflot“ and Indonesia's “Garuda“. In 2012, it was modified into a full-load freighter. The plane was leased from Karachi-based K2 Airways at the end of 2024 and is practically the only operational aircraft in the carrier's fleet. Interestingly, before the fatal flight, the plane had not been flown since June 28.
The army has been put on alert
Pakistani authorities announced that a huge resource has been deployed to locate the possible remains. The military frigate PNS Zulfiqar, supported by merchant ships of the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, has been urgently redeployed to the area of the incident in the Arabian Sea. The Air Force is conducting overflights with ATR reconnaissance aircraft, which took off from the base in Turbat. As of this writing, no signs of debris or survivors of the 5-member crew have been found.
If the incident is confirmed as fatal, it would be the first major aviation disaster in Pakistan since May 2020, when a passenger Airbus A320 crashed into a residential area of Karachi due to pilot error.