BREAKING: Rescuers arrive to help Alaska plane crash victims (Ted Stevens may have been onboard)

[Seneca]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100810/ap_on_bi_ge/us_alaska_plane_crash

JUNEAU, Alaska – A plane carrying nine people crashed amid southwest Alaska's remote mountains and lakes, killing five people on board, authorities said Tuesday. Former Sen. Ted Stevens and ex-NASA chief Sean O'Keefe were believed to be aboard.

It was unclear if the longtime Republican senator and O'Keefe were among the dead.

Rescuers arrived on helicopter early Tuesday and were giving medical care to survivors, Alaska National Guard spokesman Maj. Guy Hayes said. He offered no additional details, except that there were potential fatalities.

Alaska officials reported that nine people were aboard the aircraft and that "it appears that there are five fatalities," NTSB spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz told The Associated Press in Washington.

[babylonsister]

1. Per this, Stevens was on board...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4498551


Former Senator Ted Stevens Is in Plane Crash

[Jennicut]

2. No love for Ted Stevens but that is really horrible. Nothing scares me

more then getting on a plane. I have only flown twice in my entire life. Ted Stevens actually survived a plane crash in 1978 that killed his wife.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Then don't move to Alaska

there are two ways of transportation, planes and boats... that's it.

And if you want to go to some of the more isolated areas of the state (check), you take a plane.

Beautiful country, cold country, and damn isolated.

[Kalyke]

6. Heck... you can't even get to the capital unless you

go by plane or boat.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. We got that when we went on a Summer Cruise

beautiful place... and I would not mind Sitka, I think... but any medical emergency means hours and a chopper if serious enough. Lord help you in the winter.

[Jennicut]

10. Exactly why I stay in Connecticut! It takes less then two hours to get anywhere.

Want to get to the shoreline from northwest CT? Doesn't take me long at all. Just the traffic can be maddening. Lots of people plus small state equals massive congestion. Some people get shocked from it when they come from other states. My father in law hates driving here. You have to like being surrounded by people.

[roguevalley]

13. 1500 crashes haven't even been found.

[Ian David]

3. A plane is not a dumptruck. It's a series of tubes. n/t

[Ian David]

5. I wouldn't wish this upon Ted Stevens. But if there were nine people on board, and five are dead...

... I would prefer that one of the not-dead spots on the list turn out to be someone other than Ted Stevens, because unless there was a dictator or something on the plane, just about anyone would be more deserving.

[malaise]

7. There's already a twitter link saying that he died

in the crash

[cbdo2007]

9. Well that solves that then. The Twitterers never lie.

[malaise]

8. Link here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8914422#8914641

[mod mom]

11. TPM reporting injured can't be evacuated due to weather:

Survivors Can't Be Evacuated
David Kurtz | August 10, 2010, 12:39PM
The Alaska Air National Guard tells TPM that they are not able to evacuate the survivors at this time. "The weather is still pretty bad out there," a spox says. So they are treating the injured on the scene until they can get them to hospitals. Current weather in the vicinity is rainy and in the upper 40s.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/08/survivors_cant_be_evacuated.php?ref=fpblg