ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is set to launch a complex $10 million deep-sea recovery operation next month to retrieve a K2 Airways Boeing 737 cargo aircraft that crashed into the Arabian Sea off the Balochistan coast earlier this month, officials said.
An international salvage team is expected to arrive in August to lead the mission, which will target the wreckage lying nearly 3,000 metres below the surface, making it one of the country’s most technically demanding underwater recovery operations.
The aircraft, which was carrying five crew members, crashed into the Arabian Sea near Ormara on the night of July 7.
The extreme depth is expected to make the recovery mission highly complex, technically demanding and expensive.
Officials said the operation, estimated to cost around $10 million, will focus on locating and recovering key parts of the aircraft, including the fuselage, engine and the flight data recorder, commonly known as the black box. Efforts will also be made to recover the remains of the crew members on board.
The recovery operation will involve specialised equipment, including remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs), diving systems, recovery airbags and deep-sea support technology capable of operating at extreme ocean depths.
More than three weeks after the crash, no signal has been received from the aircraft’s emergency locator transmitter attached to the black box. Officials said the possibility of detecting the signal is decreasing as the device’s battery is typically designed to last for about a month.
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The aircraft manufacturer and insurance company are also assisting in efforts to locate the wreckage and determine the cause of the crash.
The cargo aircraft, registered in Ireland, had been acquired through a dry lease arrangement by Pakistani stakeholder Raja Tariq and other shareholders.
Under a dry lease agreement, only the aircraft is leased while the operating crew and management remain the responsibility of the lessee.
Due to the aircraft’s Irish registration, officials said any insurance compensation would be paid to the registered owner of the aircraft.
The upcoming deep-sea mission is expected to provide crucial evidence to investigators seeking to determine the circumstances that led to the crash.
