Chilling image shows moment Boeing 747 plunges 5,000 feet into ocean in less than a minute

An image appears to show the moment a Boeing 737 carrying five people dropped 5,000 feet into the ocean.

On Tuesday (7 July), a search was launched after the aircraft lost contact with air traffic control off the coast of Karachi, Pakistan.

The private cargo K2 Airways aircraft had five crew members on board who were flying from Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates, to Karachi in Pakistan.

Aviation officials have since confirmed that wreckage from a Boeing 737 has been found 53 nautical miles south of Ormara, a port town on the coast of the Arabian Sea, the BBC reports.

The five crew members - named as Mohammad Rizwan Idrees (Pilot in Command), Faisal Mehmood (First Officer), Muhammad Toufique Khan (Load Master), Arif Siddiqui (Engineer) and Mohammad Hamid (Engineer) - remain missing, and now, an image has given an idea of the aircraft's final moments.

Before losing contact, the plane reported a navigational systems issue at 9.18pm local time.

Early flight data showed the aircraft possibly plunged into the sea southwest of Karachi.

“We continue to pray, earnestly, for the safety ‌of our colleagues,” the aircraft operator ‌said in a statement on Facebook.

K2 said it was cooperating with the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority and other government agencies.

Preliminary ADS-B data show an initial loss of altitude, followed by a climb, and then a second, abrupt and substantial descent, FlightRadar24 reports.

Eerie flight playback appears to show the aircraft’s final moments before it reportedly fell into the ocean.

Sources told the Express Tribune that the Pakistan Navy had dispatched the PNS Zulfiqar to search the area, while a Pakistan Air Force Saab aircraft and a Pakistan Navy ATR aircraft were also dispatched.

Aerospace safety consultant Anthony Brickhouse told The Guardian of the plane's sudden drop: "Anytime you see something extreme like that, it catches your eye, but it is too soon to say what any of it means without more information."

Meanwhile, aviation expert Imran Aslam told Pakistan news channel ARY News that the FlightRadar data raises several questions.

If the plane suffered engine failure, he said it should have continued to glide rather than making such a rapid descent.

He said: "I still cannot understand how the plane went down so abruptly instead of gliding."

The airline said in a statement: "K2 Airways' cargo aircraft Boeing 737-400 Registration AP-BOI, which was going from Sharjah to Karachi last night, lost contact with Air Traffic Control at about 21:21 hours according to Pakistan time.

"Search and Rescue operations are being conducted by the concerned organisations. K2 Airways is fully cooperating with the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority and other government agencies.

"We continue to pray, earnestly, for the safety of our colleagues."