The American senator, Ted Stevens – who was renowned for directing hundreds of millions of dollars in worthless projects to his home state of Alaska until he was convicted of corruption and thrown out of office – has been killed in a plane crash.
Stevens, who survived a similar crash in Alaska in 1978 that killed his wife, was on a junket to a fishing lodge courtesy of a telecommunications company when the aircraft came down in bad weather in a remote part of the state.
Five of the nine people on board the singled engine plane are believed to have died. Some of the survivors were reported to have struggled with serious injuries through the night until help arrived.
Among the survivors was former head of Nasa and the North American chief executive of the European aerospace firm and defence contractor, EADS, Sean O'Keefe, and his teenage son. Officials said O'Keefe was badly injured and was one of three passengers flown to a hospital in Anchorage.
The plane went down at about 8pm Alaska time on Monday near Lake Aleknagik, about 320 miles southwest of Anchorage. It was spotted by another aircraft but the Alaska air national guard and US coastguard only reached the site 12 hours later as fog and rain had reduced visibility to just a few hundred yards.
Stevens, 86, who served in the Senate for 41 years – longer than any other Republican – was flying to a fishing lodge near Lake Aleknagik. The plane and the lodge are owned by an Alaskan telecommunications firm, GCI.
Stevens and O'Keefe were close friends who were described as "fishing buddies".
The former senator was renowned in Alaska for his ability to direct hundreds of millions of dollars in federal government funds to the oil-rich state with a small population. He was affectionately known as Uncle Ted and in 2000 was named "Alaskan of the Century" by the state legislature. The state's main airport, in Anchorage, was named after Stevens.
One of his projects became known as the "Bridge to Nowhere" after it was revealed he had ensured Congress directed $450m for the construction of a bridge in Ketchikan that was of little discernible use other than to link a small island of about 50 people to the mainland.
Alaska's governor, Sean Parnell, yesterday paid homage to Stevens.
"Though small of stature, Ted Stevens seemed larger than life, and anybody who knew him, knew him that way, for he built for Alaska and he stood for Alaska and he fought for Alaskans," he said.
Barack Obama said Stevens, who won several medals as a pilot in the Far East during the second world war, "devoted his career to serving the people of Alaska and fighting for our men and women in uniform".
But Alaskan voters began to see Stevens in a different light after he was charged with accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts – including remodelling work on his home that doubled its size – from oil companies and contractors.
He was convicted on seven charges of corruption in 2008. The convictions were overturned a few months later after the US attorney general, Eric Holder, said there was serious misconduct by prosecutors.
But the voters had already delivered their verdict. Eight days after his conviction, Stevens lost his bid for re-election to the Senate.
The authorities also investigated suspicions that Stevens steered millions of dollars in federal funds to a sports fishing group run by a former aide when it was supposed to have gone to the National Park Service.
But yesterday Stevens' tainted past was largely brushed aside as the former governor of Alaska and fellow Republican, Sarah Palin, recalled him in glowing terms.
"He is a warrior, an Alaskan hero. A world war two vet who dedicated his life to his country. He is one of our heroes up here," Palin said.
Before the crash that killed his wife, Ann, Stevens is reported to have spoken of a premonition that he would die in a plane crash. Stevens re-married several years later.