NASA's Former Chief and His Son Among 4 Survivors of Amphibious Plane Crash

An amphibious plane has crashed into a remote mountainside, killing Alaska's most beloved political figure and four others and stranding the survivors for a night.

Photo: NASA's Former Chief and His Son Among 4 Survivors of Amphibious Plane Crash

Former US Republican Senator Ted Stevens, 86, and the eight other people in the single-engine plane were on a fishing trip when the flight hit sudden fog and rain in a rugged area of south-western Alaska, The Press Association reports.

Sean O’Keefe, the former head of NASA, and his teenage son were among the four survivors who spent the night in fog and rain on the mountain, after the plane came down in a rugged section of southwestern Alaska, 300 miles from Anchorage.

Transport by small plane, including seaplanes, is common in Alaska and the crash is the third in less than two weeks in the state, according to Telegraph.co.uk.