Press reports are painting a grim portrait of the scene of the Alaska plane crash that killed former Sen. Ted Stevens and four others during a fishing trip in a remote area Monday.
Stevens, 86, who survived a plane crash that killed his wife in 1978, was among those onboard an amphibious plane flying out of Dillingham, Alaska., to go to a salmon fishing camp. Stevens’ group boarded that float plane after 3 p.m. local time Monday, and a search began at 6 p.m. the group never appeared at the fishing camp.
The wreckage of the DeHavilland DHC-3T was spotted on a mountainside. A physician and EMT workers had to be flown to the area of the crash, and then they actually had to hike to the wreckage, according to the Associated Press.
There Stevens’ body was in the plane’s fuselage, the muddy mountainside was covered in fuel and the survivors had many broken bones that needed medical attention. The weather was foggy and rainy, and the survivors were cold. They had to spend the night at the crash site, with the rescuers covering them with blankets and making a tarp tent over one man who was still strapped into his seat, afer breaking both his legs in the accident.
In addition to Stevens, pilot Theron Smith, 62, of Eagle River, Alaska, died, as did William Phillips Sr.; Dana Tindall, 48, a GCI executive; and her daughter Corey, 16, AP said.
The four survivors included former NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe, 54, and his teenaged son; William Philips Jr., 13; and Jim Morhard of Alexandria, Va.
Sean O’Keefe, a friend and Washington colleague of Stevens, was in critical condition while his son was in serious conditon, AP reported.
The crash is under investigation, with authorities expected to study the weather — strong winds and rain — to learn what role it had in the accident that killed the man that AP called “the most revered politician in Alaska history.”