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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP):

A PLANE carrying former United States Republican Senator Ted Stevens and ex-NASA chief Sean O'Keefe crashed near a remote fishing village in Alaska, killing the long-time politician and at least four others, authorities said yesterday.

The crash was a stunning event in a state where Stevens became the most beloved political figure in Alaskan history during his 40 years in the Senate, earning a reputation as a tireless advocate for projects that brought millions of federal dollars to the state. He was 86.

Stevens and O'Keefe are long-time fishing friends who had been planning a trip near where the float plane crashed while carrying nine passengers. Shannon O'Keefe said her brother and his son were on the plane, but their status was not immediately known.

Identities withheld

Rescuers arrived on helicopter early yesterday and were giving medical care to at least three survivors, Alaska National Guard spokesman Major Guy Hayes said. He offered no additional details about their conditions or identities.

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz told The Associated Press in Washington that "it appears that there are five fatalities". He said the NTSB was sending a team to the crash site, located in Bristol Bay about 325 miles (525 kilometres) southwest of Anchorage. The aircraft is a DeHavilland DHC-3T registered to Anchorage-based GCI.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known, but the flights at Dillingham are often perilous through the mountains, even in good weather.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Mike Fergus said the plane took off at 2 p.m. local time Monday from a GCI corporate site on Lake Nerka, heading to the Agulowak Lodge on Lake Aleknagik.

The lodge is made of logs and sits on a lake, and photos show a stately main lodge room with a large, imposing stone fireplace, a leather sofa and a mounted caribou head on the wall.

Fergus said the plane was flying by visual flight rules, and was not required to file a flight plan.