Five missing after accident; the plane spent 10 days in Sharjah for repairs before the return flight
Ghulam Nabi Bahrani, father-in-law of Faisal Jatoi, co-pilot (first officer) of the K2 Airways Boeing 737 cargo plane that crashed into the Arabian Sea, sits with guests at his home in Karachi, Pakistan, July 8, 2026. Photo: Reuters
The family of Faisal Jatoi, the Pakistani co-pilot who went missing with four others after their cargo plane crashed into the Arabian Sea, had to wait for distressing news on Thursday as rescuers continued their search.
Jatoi was co-piloting a K2 Airways Boeing 737 freighter from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, to Karachi on Tuesday evening when it crashed off the southern coast of Pakistan. Rescuers found the wreckage on Wednesday during a deep sea search operation.
Jatoi’s stepfather, Ghulam Nabi Bahrani, said the family became alarmed when they couldn’t reach him and a Google search showed them the word “crash.”
Read: Search underway to find the missing plane of the Pakistani company K2 Airways with 5 people on board: PAA
“That moment seemed catastrophic to us,” Bahrani said. Reuters at his home in Karachi. Jatoi has a wife and a two-year-old son.
The plane, a 27-year-old converted Boeing 737-400 freighter, spent 10 days in Sharjah for repairs after delivering cargo, waiting for a replacement part from the United States before the crew could return, Bahrani said.
It reported a navigation problem at 9:18 p.m. Pakistan time (4:18 p.m. GMT) while heading to Karachi, the Pakistan Airports Authority said, while Flightradar24 data showed erratic altitude changes before a steep descent.
The wreckage was found 53 nautical miles (98 km) south of the port of Ormara on Wednesday, and navy and maritime safety teams are searching for the flight recorders.
K2 Airways said the five people on board were two pilots, two engineers and one support staff member. Their status has not been officially declared.
Deep water research
A Pakistani aviation expert said the recovery could be among the most difficult in Pakistan’s recent history, with water depths in parts of the Arabian Sea ranging from around 2,500 to more than 3,500 meters.
Strong currents, poor visibility, uneven seabed relief and changing sea states could complicate efforts to recover submerged wrecks and flight recorders, said the expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
