FLYING Magazine
Authorities in the Middle East are looking for a Boeing 737-400 that disappeared Tuesday over the Arabian Sea off Pakistan. The aircraft belonged to Karachi-based K2 Airways. There were five crew members on board, two pilots, two engineers, and one support staffer, according to the carrier. Their condition is not known.
The aircraft took off from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and was flying to Karachi.
Around 9:21 p.m. local time the crew radioed that they were experiencing navigation difficulty. The last transmission from the pilot indicated the aircraft was “rolling or floating.”
According to authorities the flight appeared normal for the first hour or so, then, per FlightAware, the aircraft which was in cruise flight at 33,000 feet entered a steep descent and disappeared from radar.
The final data point showed the aircraft at 1,100 feet with a vertical descent rate of 22,400 feet per minute.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the aircraft had crashed into the Arabian Sea. Pakistan civil aviation authorities and military assets have been dispatched to the area to locate the missing airplane.
This is a developing story and will be updated as details become available.