UPDATED: O’Keefe, Son Survive Alaska Crash

UPDATE: Sean O’Keefe has survived the crash which killed former Sen. Ted Stevens in Alaska, per Reuters. O’Keefe’s son was also on the plane and also survived.

We don’t know yet whether he survived. Former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens was also on the plane.

A private plane carrying nine people, among them the former head of NASA Sean O’Keefe and possibly ex-Senator Ted Stevens, crashed in southwest Alaska on Monday night, sources and officials said on Tuesday.

O’Keefe, the CEO of aerospace firm EADS North America and former U.S. navy secretary, was flying on the plane, according to an EADS spokesman.

Alaska’s Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in Senate history, lost his re-election bid in 2008 after he was convicted on corruption charges, but the case was later thrown out because of prosecutorial misconduct.

A U.S. official told The Associated Press that Alaska authorities have been told the former longtime Republican senator is among several passengers on the plane. The official, who spoke on grounds of anonymity, says Stevens’ condition is unknown.

In 1978, Stevens was severely injured in a plane crash that killed his first wife Ann and four other passengers.  Reports from that time indicated Stevens was seriously injured with head, neck and arm injuries.

Survivors from the crash
U.S. officials told the Associated Press that five people were believed killed in the crash. Earlier reports said there were 9 people on board the aircraft.

Alaska National Guard spokesman Maj. Guy Hayes said the Guard was called to the area about 20 miles north of Dillingham at about 7 p.m. Monday after a passing aircraft saw the wreckage.

“From what I’m told, there are survivors on this aircraft,” Hayes said according to the Anchorage Daily News. He added that he did not know how many fatalities there were.

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