Former Senator Stevens Dies in Plane Crash
The New York Times reports that former Senator Ted Stevens is dead after a plane crash in Alaska.
Former United States Senator Ted Stevens was killed in a plane crash in southwestern Alaska on Monday night. Five of the nine people on board the small plane headed to a remote fishing lodge were killed in the crash, Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell said.
Mr. Stevens, who had been the longest-serving Republican in the United States Senate while representing Alaska, was 86.
Sean O’Keefe, 54, a former NASA administrator who now is an executive with the European aerospace firm EADS, was also on the plane with his son, but they both survived, according to an official briefed on the crash who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.
Mr. O’Keefe, the official said, was “badly injured,” and was among three passengers airlifted to an Anchorage hospital. The body of Mr. Stevens was found just after daylight, according to a former aide to Mr. Stevens who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of respect to the family.“Though small of stature, Ted Stevens seemed larger than life, and anybody knew him, knew that way, for he built for Alaska and he stood for Alaska and he fought for Alaskans,” Governor Parnell said at a news conference in Anchorage.
President Obama issued a statement praising Mr. Stevens on Tuesday afternoon, when word of his death was made official.
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