TOKYO, April 6 -- Smoke was witnessed at mountain Takakuma area near the Japan Air Self-Defense Forces'(JASDF) Kanoya airbase in Kagoshima Prefecture in southwestern Japan after a JASDF U-125 jet went missing at around 2:35 p.m. local time Wednesday, local reports said.

The SDF is verifying the report of the smoke witness, according to Japan's Kyodo News. The missing jet belongs to the Flight Check Squadron at the ASDF's Iruma airbase in Sayama in Saitama Prefecture.

A total of six people were on board the missing plane which lost contact and its image on the radar screen at around 2:35 p.m. local time about 11 km north of the Kanoya airbase. It left the base shortly after 1 p.m. and was scheduled to return around 4 p.m., said Kyodo.

ASDF chief Yoshiyuki Sugiyama apologized for the incident at a press conference.

Japan's weather agency said there was thick cloud over the Kanoya base around 2 p.m.

The SDF dispatched helicopters to search the missing plane.