Former Senator Ted Stevens possibly in Alaska plane crash [UPDATED]

UPDATE: KTUU out of Anchorage is reporting that Dave Dittman, a former aide and family friend of Stevens, says Stevens was killed in a plane crash near Dillingham Monday night (Aug. 9).

Former Republican Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska (pictured with daughters Beth, left, and Lily) may have been on-board a plane that crashed in Alaska, killing five people. Stevens' chief of staff Mitch Rose tells CNN that they still cannot confirm the reports. His family is offering their thanks for everyone's prayers and is offering their own prayers for the families of the victims. The plane was also carrying former NASA chief Sean O'Keefe. There is no word as to his condition yet.

Stevens was first appointed to the U.S. Senate in December 1968 when there was a vacancy caused by the death of E.L. Bartlett. He was repeatedly re-elected and by 2007 he become the longest-serving Republican senator in history. He is most famous for spearheading Congress' authorization of an 800-mile pipeline to the port of Valdez.

In an eerie coincidence, Stevens survived a plane crash in 1978 that killed his first wife Ann and four others. They had three sons, Ben, Walter, and Ted; and two daughters, Susan and Beth. He later remarried, to Catherine Chandler in 1980 and they have one daughter, Lily.

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