There are major fears that the very worst has happened after a Boeing 737 suddenly went missing after departing the Middle East. When looking at playback of the flight, the plane appeared to simply vanish off the coast of Pakistan, losing all contact with air traffic control after taking off from the United Arab Emirates.Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority said search and rescue teams had been deployed to the Arabian Sea after the aircraft went missing late on Tuesday night.The cause of the incident is not yet known and the aircraft is yet to be found. The Boeing 737, operated by Karachi-based K2 Airways, was a cargo plane with five people on board, travelling from Sharjah in the UAE to Karachi, Pakistan.The crew reported a navigation system issue at around 9.18pm local time.According to the Civil Aviation Authority, radar data showed the aircraft suddenly losing altitude and “rapidly descending” before making a sharp turn just minutes later. Contact with the plane was lost at approximately 9.21pm when it was around 155 nautical miles (287km) west of Karachi.Authorities are continuing search efforts as they work to determine what happened to the aircraft and the five crew on board.Preliminary data sent from the plane “indicated a loss of altitude, followed by a climb, and then a second, sudden and dramatic loss of altitude,” according to Flightradar24.com, a global flight-tracking service. According to Reuters, the Flightradar24 data suggests a possible crash into sea near Karachi, however this has not been confirmed, due to the search still being underway for the missing aircraft. In a statement posted to their social media page, K2 Airways said it was cooperatingwith the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority and other government agencies. They also identified the five crew members on board and said that they “continue to pray, earnestly, for the safety ​of our colleagues.”K2 Airways is a private cargo airline in Pakistan that operates scheduled and charter flights domestically and internationally.Manufactured in 1999, the plane flew as a passenger plane for Aeroflot and Garuda Indonesia before being converted to a cargo configuration in 2012, according to Airfleets.net.It is K2 Airways’ only aircraft and entered into service with the carrier in 2024.If casualties are confirmed, it would be Pakistan’s first fatal air crash since 2020, when Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303 came down short ​of the runway in Karachi, killing 97 people after pilots were distracted discussing the coronavirus before a failed landing attempt.-With AFPMore to come