UPDATED: Alaska plane crash ... former Sen. Ted Stevens killed

Bad weather has hampered rescue efforts for an airplane that crashed in Alaska overnight near Dillingham, southwest of Anchorage. The Anchorage Daily News is reporting that former Sen. Ted Stevens may have been on board:

Friends of former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens said he was traveling Monday to the GCI-owned Agulowak Lodge near Lake Aleknagik, and they were concerned for him.

A woman who answered the phone at the Anchorage home of retired Air Force Gen. Joe Ralston, a good friend of Stevens, said Ralston was with Stevens' wife, Catherine, comforting her and trying to find out what was going on.

No one answered the phone at the homes of Stevens' daughter, Susan Covich, in Kenai, or his son, Ben, in Anchorage.

Update 10:45 am: News reports are now saying five passengers may be dead. There were either eight or nine people on board including former Sen. Ted Stevens, former NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, and possible family members (reports are saying both men had sons with them).

Final Update: Former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens and his son were killed in the plane crash along with the pilot and two other people. Sean O'Keefe and his son survived.

H/T to Dave