Prateek Tanmay
3 min readUpdated: Jul 11, 2026 02:22 AM IST
Pakistan’s Navy has recovered more debris from a cargo plane that crashed into the Arabian Sea earlier this week, as search teams entered the third day of efforts to locate the aircraft’s five missing crew members. Authorities said the newly recovered wreckage will be examined as investigators continue to probe what caused the crash.
The K2 Airways cargo plane disappeared from radar on Tuesday night while flying from Sharjah in the UAE to Karachi after reporting a navigation system malfunction. While floating debris has been recovered about 100 kilometres off Pakistan’s Makran coast, the aircraft’s main fuselage and all five crew members remain missing, according to the Pakistan Airports Authority.
Families urge deeper search
As hopes of finding survivors fade, families of the missing crew have appealed to the government not to scale back the operation.
Nazim Jatoi, the father of co-pilot Faisal Jatoi, urged authorities to bring in specialist companies capable of locating the aircraft’s flight data and cockpit voice recorders in deep water, saying they would be crucial in determining what happened.
Abdur Rafay Siddiqui, second right, elder son of missing cargo plane crew flight engineer Muhammad Arif Siddiqui, chats with siblings outside their home in Karachi. (AP Photo)
“The wreckage recovered so far is the lighter debris that remained afloat,” he told AP. “The government should make every effort to locate the heavier sections of the aircraft that sank after the crash.”
He also appealed for the search to continue until all crew members are found.
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Day by day
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Tuesday, 9:21 pm
Flying Sharjah → Karachi, the aircraft reports a navigation-system malfunction, then loses radar and radio contact ~155 NM (287 km) west of Karachi.
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Wednesday
First debris recovered ~98 km (53 NM) south of Ormara, about 12 hours after contact was lost.
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Thursday
The deep-sea search continues amid rough monsoon seas.
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Friday
More debris recovered; the search goes on.
Status: the main fuselage, the flight recorders (black boxes) and all five crew members remain missing. The cause is under investigation.
Where the plane went down (schematic, not to scale)
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Pakistan · Makran coast
Arabian Sea
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4
Last contact~287 km W of Karachi
5
Debris found~98 km off Ormara
1Sharjah, UAE — departure
2Karachi — destination, not reached
3Ormara — Makran coast reference point
4Last contact — ~287 km (155 NM) west of Karachi
5Debris found — ~98 km (53 NM) south of Ormara
Positions approximate. The dotted leg shows the intended route to Karachi, not reached. The main fuselage is thought to lie in ~9,800 ft of water and has not been found.
A multi-agency operation
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Pakistan Navy ships
Including PNS Zulfiqar and the PNSC Karachi
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Aircraft & surveillance planes
Air Force and Navy assets scanning the sea
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Maritime Security Agency
Co-ordinated sea search
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Deep-water search
Waters ~9,800 ft deep may need sonar and ROVs; recovery could take months
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Debris recovered
Floating wreckage lifted onto ships for investigators
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Main fuselage & five crew
Still missing; the search is focused on finding them
What investigators are still looking for
Recovered
Floating debris
Aircraft fragments
Small wreckage
Still missing
Main fuselage
Flight data recorder
Cockpit voice recorder
Five crew members
Why the black boxes matter — and the clock: the flight recorders hold the answers to the final minutes, but each carries an underwater beacon that pings for only about 30 days. They usually rest with the main fuselage, still on the sea floor.
Sources: Pakistan Airports Authority · Reuters · AP · Flightradar24. Details are developing; the crew’s status is not officially confirmed.
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Crash investigation underway
The Pakistan Airports Authority said naval and maritime search teams, backed by aircraft, continue to scan deep waters for the missing plane.
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Officials said radar data showed the aircraft rapidly lost altitude before contact was lost at around 9.21 pm on Tuesday, roughly 287 kilometres west of Karachi.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed authorities to use all available resources in the search, while K2 Airways said it is fully cooperating with investigators.
The operation has been hampered by rough seas, strong winds and shifting ocean currents, making it difficult to locate the submerged wreckage and the missing crew.
(With inputs from AP)
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