Pakistan: More wreckage of crashed cargo plane found, search continues for missing crew

Karachi, Jul 10 (PTI) Pakistan's search and rescue teams on Friday retrieved more pieces of debris of the cargo plane that had crashed into the Arabian Sea with five crew members on board early this week. The Boeing 737 cargo aircraft, operated by Karachi-based private airline K2 Airways, vanished from radar after it was seen descending rapidly and making a sudden change in direction during the flight from Sharjah to Karachi on Tuesday night. The wreckage of the aircraft was recovered from 53 nautical miles south of Ormara on the Balochistan coast on Wednesday. However, there was no sign of the missing five crew members, according to officials. "Search and Rescue (SAR) missions by the Pakistan Navy (PN) and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) in the deep sea remain underway," the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) said in a statement on Friday. "The search for the crew members is continuing with full vigour through the coordinated employment of aerial and sea-borne assets,” it said. “Additional parts and debris of the ill-fated aircraft have been located and retrieved for subsequent analysis by the investigation team,” it added. K2 Airways identified the missing crew as Capt. Muhammad Rizwan Idris, First Officer Faisal Jatoi, flight engineers Muhammad Hamid and Muhammad Arif Siddiqui, and aircraft loader Muhammad Taufiq Khan. "There are remote chances of the five crew members having survived the crash,” a PAA source had said earlier. Officials said that investigations are underway to determine the cause of the crash. PTI SH ZH ZH ZH