Air France Chinese passengers identified

A six-member purchasing team from a steel company, a technology executive and a businessman were among the nine Chinese on the Air France plane which is presumed to have crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on Monday.

The ninth person has not yet been identified, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

Flight 447, an Airbus 330-200 bound for Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, lost contact with the control center shortly after taking off from Rio de Janeiro on Sunday at 7 pm (6 am on Monday, Beijing time) with 228 people on board.

Brazilian search planes reported spotting debris in the Atlantic Ocean Tuesday that could be wreckage of the plane.

Authorities from both France and Brazil have said they expect no survivors from the crash.

Among the Chinese on the plane was a team of six from Liaoning-based Benxi Iron & Steel (Group), which was in Brazil for talks on buying iron ore.

The company would not reveal their names but insiders said the team included Chen Chiping, deputy manager of the group's international trade division and wife of Liaoning deputy governor Liu Guoqiang; and Li Mingwen, the group's deputy general manager.

The remaining four are Zhang Qingbo, assistant to the group general manager, Sun Lianyou, the group's iron mill director, and two other employees, Shen Zuobing and Gao Xing.