Pakistan K2 Airways cargo plane’s final 3 minutes reveal a terrifying plunge before it disappeared
The final moments of a Pakistan cargo plane that disappeared off the country’s southern coast have emerged as investigators begin piecing together what went wrong aboard the Boeing 737 freighter. Flight-tracking data suggests the aircraft suffered a chaotic sequence of climbs and plunges before crashing into the Arabian Sea, with rescuers later recovering the wreckage and continuing the search for its five crew members, news agency Reuters reported.
The K2 Airways Boeing 737-400 cargo aircraft vanished late Tuesday while flying from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to Karachi after reporting a navigational system problem. On Wednesday, Pakistan’s Airports Authority said the wreckage had been found 53 nautical miles (98 km) south of Ormara port following a 12-hour search involving the Pakistan Navy and maritime rescue agencies.
Wreckage of the K2 Airways Cargo B737 plane on display after a search and rescue operation, in Lahore. (PTI Photo)(PTI07_08_2026_000572B)What happened in the final minutes?
According to Pakistan’s Airports Authority, the aircraft reported a navigational system problem at 9:18 pm Pakistan Standard Time while approaching Karachi.
Air traffic controllers attempted to assist the crew, but just three minutes later, radar showed the aircraft descending rapidly before all communication was lost. At the time, the aircraft was about 155 nautical miles (287 km) west of Karachi.
Flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 paints a dramatic picture of the jet’s final moments.
The Boeing 737 reportedly plunged nearly 5,000 feet in less than a minute, then unexpectedly climbed about 6,000 feet within 30 seconds, before entering what tracking data suggests was a catastrophic final dive from an altitude of 36,550 feet.
The aircraft’s last transmitted position placed it at just 1,100 feet above sea level, descending at around 22,400 feet per minute—an exceptionally steep and abnormal rate of descent.
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Minute by minute (Tuesday night)
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9:18 pm (1618 GMT)
The crew reports a navigation-system problem.
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Moments later
Air traffic control responds and tries to guide the aircraft.
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Then
From its ~35,000 ft cruise, the aircraft drops ~5,000 ft in under a minute.
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Seconds later
An unexpected climb of ~6,000 ft in 30 seconds, to about 36,650 ft.
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The final dive
A steep dive begins from 36,550 ft.
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Final radio message
The crew’s last words to controllers: the aircraft is “rolling or floating.”
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Last data point
The aircraft is at 1,100 ft above the sea, falling at −22,400 ft/min.
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~9:21 pm
Radar contact and communication are lost, ~155 NM west of Karachi.
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~12 hours later
Debris found 53 NM (98 km) south of Ormara; the search for the main wreckage and crew continues.
Sequence per the Pakistan Airports Authority and Flightradar24; timings are approximate and tracking data is preliminary (early data near Sharjah was affected by GNSS interference).
The route (schematic, not to scale)
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Sharjah, UAE
Departure — cargo flight bound for Karachi, across the Arabian Sea.
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Navigation issue reported
The crew flags a navigation-system problem on approach toward Karachi.
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Last radar position
Contact lost here, over the Arabian Sea.
155 NM (287 km) west of Karachi
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Wreckage recovered
Found in a deep-sea search off the Balochistan coast.
53 NM (98 km) south of Ormara
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Karachi
Intended destination — not reached.
A schematic of the reported points, not a to-scale map. Distances are as given by the Pakistan Airports Authority.
A normal descent vs this flight
Normal flight
altitude over time
- Stable altitude
- Smooth, controlled descent (~3,000 ft/min)
K2 Airways flight
altitude over time
- Sudden ~5,000-ft drop
- Rapid ~6,000-ft climb
- Final descent at 22,400 ft/min
- Contact lost
−22,400
ft per minute (~400 km/h) — the final recorded descent rate. A normal airliner descends at about 3,000 ft/min (Flightradar24).
Altitude profiles are illustrative, not to scale, and drawn from the described flight-tracking data.
Sources: Reuters · Pakistan Airports Authority · Flightradar24. Details are developing; the crew’s status is not officially confirmed.
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Experts say crew appeared to be fighting the aircraft
John Cox, a former commercial pilot and US aviation safety expert, told Reuters that the available flight data suggested the crew had been struggling to control the aircraft.
“It is possible, in the last portions of it, that the aeroplane was stalled and descending at a very, very high rate,” Cox said.
He cautioned that flight-tracking information alone cannot determine the cause of the crash and that investigators would need cockpit voice and flight data recorder evidence before reaching conclusions.
Search for crew continues
The Pakistan Navy and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency deployed aircraft and ships to search the Arabian Sea before locating the wreckage approximately 53 nautical miles south of Ormara.
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Ghulam Nabi Bahrani, left, father-in-law of missing cargo plane crew First Officer Faisal Jatoi, with others pray for Jatoi at his home in Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday. (AP Photo)
Authorities are continuing efforts to recover the five crew members, comprising two pilots, two flight engineers and one support staff member.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed authorities to deploy all available resources for the search operation.
Investigation underway
Pakistan is leading the investigation under international aviation rules. Authorities have not yet confirmed whether the aircraft’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, commonly known as the black boxes, have been recovered.
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has appointed an accredited representative to assist the investigation, alongside technical advisers from Boeing, GE Aerospace, and the US Federal Aviation Administration.
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About the aircraft
The aircraft involved was a 27-year-old Boeing 737-400 freighter, originally delivered to Russia’s Aeroflot in 1999 before being converted into a cargo aircraft in 2012.
According to Flightradar24, it entered service with K2 Airways in 2024 and was the airline’s only aircraft.
If confirmed, the crash would be Pakistan’s first fatal aviation accident since the 2020 Pakistan International Airlines crash in Karachi, which killed 97 people.
(With inputs from Reuters)