Eight Chinese passengers named

Six of the nine Chinese aboard the missing Air France plane were staff of the Liaoning-based Benxi Iron & Steel Company, who arrived in Brazil on May 26 to negotiate the purchase of iron ore.

The Chinese embassy in Brazil had previously said only eight Chinese nationals were on board, but a passenger list released later by the airline showed there were nine.

The company named them as Li Mingwen, a deputy general manager, Zhang Qingbo, Sun Lianyou and Shen Zuobing. The group included two women, Gao Xing and Chen Chiping.

A company spokesman said it had formed a team to help relatives of the employees, who are presumed dead.

Also on the flight was 27-year-old Zhuo Jiachun, an employee of Huawei Technologies' Rio de Janeiro office.

Zhuo's colleagues have posted more than 400 condolence messages online.

'When I first heard the news I started to worry about my colleagues in Brazil,' one person wrote. 'The airlines from Rio de Janeiro to Paris and from Sao Paolo to Paris are the way our brothers in Brazil come home.'

The eighth named passenger was Chen Qingwei from Zhejiang province . The 35-year-old had travelled to Brazil two months ago.

The identity of the ninth passenger was not known last night.

Kim Huang