Safety board: 5 believed dead in Alaska crash of plane believed carrying Stevens, O’Keefe

US officials: 5 believed dead in Alaska crash

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board says it appears that five people were killed and four survived the Alaska crash of a small plane that was believed to be carrying former Sen. Ted Stevens and former NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe.

The fate of Stevens and O’Keefe was not known.

Ted Lopatkiewicz, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, told The Associated Press in Washington that reports from Alaska authorities were that nine people were aboard the aircraft and that “it appears that there are five fatalities.” He said the NTSB is sending a team to the crash site in southwest Alaska.