The Pakistan Airports Authority said K2 Airways flight TA1732 went missing after reporting a navigation system malfunction during its flight from Sharjah to Karachi. The cargo aircraft, a 27-year-old Boeing 737, lost contact at 9:32pm and disappeared from radar over the Arabian Sea near Ormara in Balochistan.
A search operation started immediately, and the Rescue Coordination Centre was activated to coordinate the response. The aircraft was about 300 nautical miles from Karachi when contact ended, leaving search crews working with a narrow window and a moving target over water.
Flight TA1732 and Karachi
The Area Control Centre said it gave guidance to the crew after the malfunction report came in. Flight TA1732 had been cruising at 35,000 feet and 790 kilometres per hour at 9:17pm before the situation changed in minutes.
Radar and communication contact with the aircraft were lost at the same time. The Pakistan Airports Authority said the plane reported the navigation problem while airborne, which meant the response began before the aircraft vanished from tracking systems.
Radar and the descent
Flight tracking data showed the aircraft made an abrupt U-turn and then entered a rapid descent. In five minutes, it lost about 34,000 feet, dropping to 1,100 feet and slowing to 211 kilometres per hour before disappearing from radar.
The last tracked position placed it about 155 nautical miles west of Karachi. That track, paired with the reported malfunction, gives search teams two reference points: the airport destination on one side and the last known radar path over open water on the other.
Search and Rescue Centre
The Rescue Coordination Centre was activated immediately after contact was interrupted. For people following the flight, the practical next step is the search itself: the aircraft is missing in transit, the crew has not reappeared in the available data, and the response is now centered on finding the plane and understanding the malfunction.
In 2010, a Russian cargo aircraft carrying eight people crashed in a residential area of Karachi shortly after taking off from the city's airport. That earlier crash is part of the backdrop around cargo operations near Karachi, but the current case turns on a different problem: a flight that disappeared after a reported navigation failure and a steep descent over the Arabian Sea.
