ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan Navy search teams recovered additional debris from a cargo plane that crashed into the Arabian Sea earlier this week, with the recovered wreckage to be analyzed by investigators as the search for the aircraft’s five missing crew members entered its third day Friday.
The Pakistan Airports Authority said in a post on X that search-and-rescue operations by the Pakistan Navy and the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency remained underway in deep waters, with aircraft and other assets deployed in a coordinated effort to locate the missing crew.
The authority did not provide additional details, saying further updates would be shared later. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
The cargo plane, operated by Karachi-based private carrier K2 Airways, disappeared from radar late Tuesday while flying from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to Karachi, Pakistan, after reporting a malfunction in its navigation system.
The Navy recovered the first pieces of wreckage Wednesday about 100 kilometers (60 miles) off the coastal town of Ormara on Pakistan’s southwestern Makran coast in Balochistan province, but officials have said the aircraft’s main fuselage and all five crew members remain missing.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed authorities to use all available resources to locate the missing crew members, while K2 Airways said it is extending full cooperation to civil aviation authorities investigating the crash.
The search has been complicated by rough seas, strong winds and shifting ocean currents, which can scatter floating debris over a wide area and make it more difficult to pinpoint the crash site.
The Pakistan Airports Authority has said radar data indicated the aircraft made a sharp change in heading and rapidly descended before radio and radar contact were lost at about 9:21 p.m. Tuesday, about 287 kilometers (178 miles) west of Karachi.
Pakistan has experienced several fatal air crashes in recent decades.
In this photo released by Pakistan Navy, Pakistan Navy personnel shift the wreckage of a cargo plane of the private carrier K2 Airways into a naval ship after recovering them from deep sea near Omara, a town some 360 kms. (220 miles) west of Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (Pakistan Navy via AP)
In this photo released by Pakistan Navy, Pakistan Navy personnel examine the wreckage of a cargo plane of the private carrier K2 Airways on a naval ship after recovering them from deep sea near Omara, a town some 360 kms. (220 miles) west of Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (Pakistan Navy via AP)
Ghulam Nabi Bahrani, father-in-law of missing cargo plane crew First Officer Faisal Jatoi, showed his picture on a mobile phone in Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ali Raza)
BANGKOK (AP) — Three former crew members of a Thai cargo ship struck in the Strait of Hormuz in March filed a lawsuit Friday against the vessel’s operator over labor rights violations and unfair dismissal.
The ship, the Mayuree Naree, was hit by a projectile north of Oman on March 11, killing three people. The remaining 20 crew members were rescued and returned to Thailand about a week later.
Former crew members Panithi Tumkaew, Noppadon Wongsuvan and Surades Manpuen filed the lawsuit against Precious Shipping Co. as well as two affiliated companies and the ship’s captain.
The lawsuit alleges that the defendants endangered their lives by sailing through the strait despite the security risks, according to their lawyer Kunpat Singhathong.
Kunpat said the three men were also dismissed before the completion of their nine-month employment contracts after the attack rendered the ship inoperable. He said they received compensation equivalent to two months’ salary.
The compensation was inadequate because they have since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, leaving them unable to continue working as sailors for the foreseeable future, he said.
“We tried to negotiate with the company, but it denied responsibility, so we believe the matter should be brought to the court,” Kunpat said before filing the case with the Central Labor Court in Bangkok.
He declined to identify the amount of compensation they are seeking, only that it would be over a million baht ($30,000) per person.
Panithi, who said he had worked for Precious Shipping for more than a decade, said his wife encouraged him to seek medical treatment after noticing changes in his behavior.
“When there are loud noises, I’ll get startled," he said. “I can’t work now, and I have to take medication.”
Precious Shipping did not respond to requests for comment.
The remains of the three crew members killed in the attack were repatriated to Thailand earlier this month.
In a statement on July 3, Precious Shipping thanked everyone involved in the repatriation process and expressed its condolences to the victims’ families. The company said it “remains committed to providing full assistance, care, and support to bereaved families throughout this difficult time.”
On Thursday, the United States launched new airstrikes against Iran, which responded by targeting American allies in the Middle East. The exchange of fire threatens an interim deal intended to help end the Iran war.
The conflict has choked off the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for about a fifth of global trade in crude oil and liquefied natural gas. Most of this was bound for Asia, which has struggled with a continentwide energy shock since the war began on Feb. 28.
The safety of stranded seafarers in the Persian Gulf has been a source of concern among Asian nations — like India, the Philippines and Thailand — whose citizens make up a significant portion of ship crews.
“This is not simply a matter of shipping statistics,” said Arsenio Dominguez, the secretary-general of the United Nations' International Maritime Organization in a statement Wednesday. “Behind the figures are seafarers, and in some cases their families, who continue to bear the human cost of this conflict.”
Seafarers take shelter and don life jackets on the Mayuree Naree, after the Thailand-flagged bulk carrier was hit by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, north of Oman, on March 11. (Panithi Tumkaew via AP)
Smoke billows from the Mayuree Naree, a Thailand-flagged bulk carrier, after it was hit by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, north of Oman, on March 11, 2026. (Panithi Tumkaew via AP)
A Thai lawyer holds legal documents for a case filed by former sailors of the Thailand-flagged ship, the Mayuree Naree, outside the Central Labour Court in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, July 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Anton L. Delgado)
Lawyer Kunpat Singhathong and Noppadon Wongsuvan, a former sailor from the Thailand-flagged ship, the Mayuree Naree, walk towards the Central Labour Court in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, July 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Anton L. Delgado)
Panithi Tumkaew, a former sailor from the Thailand-flagged ship, the Mayuree Naree, stands outside the Central Labour Court in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, July 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Anton L. Delgado)
Noppadon Wongsuvan, a former sailor from the Thailand-flagged ship, the Mayuree Naree, is seen outside the Central Labour Court in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, July 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Anton L. Delgado)
Lawyer Kunpat Singhathong and three sailors from the Thailand-flagged ship, the Mayuree Naree, speak to journalists outside the Central Labour Court in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, July 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Anton L. Delgado)
