UPDATE 11am: NTSB says five died, four survived, plane crash. Stevens is 86.
UPDATE: 10:53am ADN:
A U.S. government official told The Associated Press that Alaska authorities have been told that Stevens, a former longtime Republican senator, is among several passengers on the plane. The official, who spoke on grounds of anonymity, says Stevens' condition is unknown.UPDATE 10:44am Eastern: Susan at DailyKos quotes Reuters as saying Stevens was on the plane. Chuck Todd says Sean O'Keefe was too - he was the former administrator of NASA, and he also served as acting Secretary of the Navy under Bush.
Anchorage Daily News:
Severe weather has hampered the rescue operation for eight people believed to be on board a GCI-owned aircraft that crashed near Dillingham on Monday night with possible fatalities, according to state and federal officials.
The Alaska Air National Guard was called to the area about 20 miles north of Dillingham at about 7 p.m. after a passing aircraft saw the wreckage, spokesman Maj. Guy Hayes said. Eight people were reported to be on board the aircraft, though their status wasn't immediately known, he said. There were possible fatalities, he said.
Friends of former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens said he was traveling Monday to the GCI-owned Agulowak Lodge near Lake Aleknagik, and they were concerned for him.
A woman who answered the phone at the Anchorage home of retired Air Force Gen. Joe Ralston, a good friend of Stevens, said Ralston was with Stevens' wife, Catherine, comforting her and trying to find out what was going on.
No one answered the phone at the homes of Stevens' daughter, Susan Covich, in Kenai, or his son, Ben, in Anchorage.
