Former senator Ted Stevens was aboard a plane that crashed last night in Alaska, according to people familiar with the situation.

The condition of the former Republican lawmaker from Alaska, who served four decades in the Senate, was unknown, the people said. Stevens’ former chief of staff, Mitch Rose, said he spoke to the family about 12:30 p.m. EDT and they had not been notified of Stevens’s status.

“Things are moving quickly,” Rose said in a phone interview. “We should have some answers pretty quickly.”

The family released a brief statement: “The Ted Stevens family offers their prayers for all those on board and for their families. We thank the brave men and women who are working to reach the site. We continue to work with the Alaska National Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Alaska State Troopers. We thank everyone for their support and prayers.”

Former National Aeronautics and Space Administration head Sean O'Keefe was also aboard the plane, said a spokesman for European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co.

The condition of O’Keefe, 54, chief executive officer of EADS North America, wasn’t immediately known, said EADS spokesman Tim Paynter.

Rescue Effort

Rescuers from the Alaska National Guard’s 212th and 210th Rescue Squadrons were on the scene, National Guard spokeswoman Kalei Brooks said. The Coast Guard said that four of nine people aboard the aircraft had survived the crash.

The DeHavilland DHC-3T plane crashed at about 8 p.m. Alaska Daylight Time last night northwest of Aleknagik, Alaska, according to a National Transportation Safety Board statement.

General Communication Inc.,the Alaskan telecommunications provider, owns the plane, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Ronald Duncan, chief executive officer of the Anchorage, Alaska-based GCI, confirmed the company owns the plane.

The NTSB said the plane carried nine people and the agency had reports that five had died. Four survivors of the crash were “confirmed,” Coast Guard Commander Laura Dickey, the Coast Guard’s Senate liaison, wrote in an e-mail obtained today.

Survivors Transported

Two of the survivors were transported to a hospital in nearby Dillingham while a third was en route, said Petty Officer Sean Terry of the Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center in Juneau.

The goal was to take those three to a medical facility in Anchorage, he said in a phone interview.

The fourth survivor was still at the crash scene, Terry said.

Bad weather initially delayed rescue efforts, said Megan Peters, a spokeswoman for the Alaska State Troopers. The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center, operated by the Air National Guard, responded with a helicopter and plane after the crash site was spotted by other aircraft, Dickey wrote.

The area is a difficult place to mount rescues, Peters said.

“This is normal out there” that rescues are challenging “because of the sheer size and remoteness” of the region, she said in a telephone interview.

The NTSB said it was sending a team to investigate the cause of the crash.

Private medical personnel who were dropped off by a commercial helicopter from Dillingham, Alaska, also were on the scene, the Coast Guard’s Dickey wrote.

Re-election Bid

Stevens, 86, lost a bid for re-election in 2008 following a conviction that was later overturned. The Alaska Republican was accused of failing to disclose more than $250,000 in gifts from a former oil executive and others and was convicted in October 2008.

The verdict was overturned by a U.S. judge who ordered an investigation into alleged criminal conduct by prosecutors. The Justice Department abandoned the case after finding that prosecutors withheld evidence that could have helped Stevens contest the charges of omissions from financial disclosures.

O’Keefe served as administrator of NASA from December 2001 to December 2004. He led the U.S. space agency following the space shuttle Columbia disaster. From 2005 to 2008, he was chancellor of Louisiana State University.

He became EADS North America’s chief executive officer in November 2009. Prior to joining EADS, O’Keefe worked forGeneral Electric Co., leading the Washington operations of the GE Aviation business. He had served as secretary of the Navy under former President George H.W. Bush.