In a swift and coordinated emergency response, Pakistan Navy in coordination with Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) has successfully rescued all 20 Pakistani crew members from a sinking cargo dhow operating east of Ormara which was experiencing severe flooding.
PNS HUNAIN and required aerial assets were diverted to undertake rescue operation upon on reciept of distress call to Joint Maritime information Coordination Centre.
All 20 crew members were safely recovered from the distressed vessel due to the professionalism displayed by the rescuers. All those rescued are being provided necessary medical attention.
The successful operation underscores Pakistan Navy’s and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency unwavering commitment to ensuring the safety of life at sea and its readiness to respond to maritime emergencies around the clock.
The aircraft, operated by private carrier K2 Airways, reported a malfunction in its navigation system before losing radio and radar contact late Tuesday, according to the Pakistan Airports Authority.
Since then, ships and aircraft have continued to comb waters nearly 300 kilometers (180 miles) southwest of Karachi, where the plane disappeared from radar while approaching Pakistan´s largest city from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
On Wednesday, the Pakistan Airports Authority said that Navy ships and the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency located and recovered wreckage about 12 hours after the aircraft disappeared. The debris was recovered about 100 kilometers (60 miles) off Ormara, a coastal town on Pakistan´s southwestern Makran coast in Balochistan province.
The authority also posted photographs on X showing search crews recovering pieces of the wreckage from the sea. Officials said the debris was scattered across a wide area, with strong winds, rough seas and shifting ocean currents carrying floating wreckage away from the crash site, complicating efforts to locate the missing crew.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had earlier directed authorities to use all available resources in the search and expressed sympathy with the families of the missing crew.
Pakistan has experienced several fatal air crashes in recent decades.
In May, the navy and PMSA provided humanitarian assistance to over half a dozen sailors stuck aboard an Indian offshore tug and supply vessel in the Arabian Sea, security sources said.
In April, the navy carried out an operation in the Arabian Sea in which it rescued 18 crew members, including foreign nationals, of a merchant vessel following a distress call.
In May 2020, a Pakistan International Airlines flight carrying 99 people crashed into a densely populated neighborhood near the Karachi airport while attempting to land. All but two of the 99 people on board were killed. A government investigation later concluded that human error by the pilots and air traffic controllers caused the crash.