Pakistani authorities launched a search and rescue operation after a cargo aircraft carrying five crew members went missing over the Arabian Sea Tuesday night, according to aviation officials.

The K2 Airways Boeing 737 cargo flight, en route from Sharjah to Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, reported a navigational system malfunction at 9:18 p.m. local time and was promptly guided by Karachi Area Control Center, the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) said in a statement.

However, a few minutes later, the aircraft was observed on radar rapidly descending and making a sharp change in heading, before both radar and radio contact were lost approximately 155 nautical miles west of Karachi, the PAA said.

The authority added that the rescue coordination center has been activated and a coordinated search and rescue operation is underway at sea with the assistance of multiple agencies to locate the missing aircraft.