Disappearance
On 25 August 1989, Pakistan International Airlines Flight 404, a Fokker F27 Friendship, departed from Gilgit, Pakistan, at 07:36 local time, bound for Islamabad. At 07:40, one of the pilots made a routine radio call, which was the last communication with the aircraft. The flight is believed to have crashed in the Himalayas, but the wreckage has never been located. Speculation exists that the aircraft was deliberately shot down by the Indian Army with an anti-aircraft missile fired from a base along the Line of Control.
Aircraft
The aircraft involved was a Fokker F27-200 Friendship turboprop airliner, serial number 10207. It was built in 1962 and registered as AP-BBF. At the time of the accident, the aircraft had accumulated approximately 44,524 hours of flying time and 41,524 pressurization cycles.
Search Operation
Following the disappearance, the Pakistani military launched aerial search missions using C-130 aircraft and search helicopters during the first three to four days. The Indian Air Force also conducted operations on the Indian side of the Line of Control. Subsequently, land search parties comprising civilian and armed forces personnel searched the area around Nanga Parbat, an 8,000-meter-high mountain, but found no trace of the aircraft. All 54 people on board were lost and presumed dead.