Officials say a helicopter carrying five people has gone missing in a mountainous region of Nepal while flying a sick woman to a hospital in Kathmandu.

Government official Khagendra Ghimire said villagers reported seeing smoke coming from a mountain area northeast of the capital. Soldiers and police were traveling to the area to investigate.

The helicopter was sent to a village to evacuate an ill pregnant woman. Contact with the aircraft was lost when it was about 16 kilometers (10 miles) from Kathmandu.

All five occupants including the pilot are Nepalese nationals.