A Chinese company confirmed on Wednesday the identities of its six staff members who were on board the Air France jet that vanished over the Atlantic.

Benxi Iron & Steel (Group) Co. Ltd, in northeastern Liaoning Province, said the six were the group's deputy general manager Li Mingwen, assistant manager and manufacturing department head Zhang Qingbo, steel melting plant head Sun Lianyou, former material section chief Shen Zuobing and two female managers of a trade company under the group.

They were taking the AF447 flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris after business talks with Australia's BHP Billiton Ltd. and Brazil's CVRD, said Liu Dahong, the company's deputy director of publicity.

The company has set up a working team and will arrange for family members of the missing staff to fly to France or Brazil.

Nine Chinese nationals were on board the plane, which carried 216 passengers and 12 crew members. The other three were a Chinese seeking to become an investment immigrant in Brazil from eastern China, an employee of the Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., in Shenzhen city, and an associate research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

(Xinhua News Agency June 4, 2009)