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6/2/09

WSJ: Air France Air Crash Victims Include VIP Business Executives, and a Royal - by John Lyons

For the complete report from the WSJ.com click on this link

Air France Air Crash Victims Include VIP Business Executives, and a Royal - by John Lyons

Although Brazilian and French authorities have yet to release a detailed passenger manifest, the list is expected to read like a roster of European and Brazilian blue-chip companies, whose executives regularly packed the business- and first-class sections of this trans-Atlantic flight. Already, some firms, such as French tire maker Michelin SA, have begun confirming their executives were aboard the Airbus A330-200. German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp Steel AG said that Erich Heine, chairman of its Brazil unit, was aboard. Brazil-based Vale SA, the world's biggest iron-ore producer, said one of its senior executives was aboard. Norwegian oil giant StatoilHydro ASA said three employees -- two Brazilians and a Norwegian -- were on the plane. Already, some firms, such as French tire maker Michelin SA, have begun confirming their executives were aboard the Airbus A330-200. German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp Steel AG said that Erich Heine, chairman of its Brazil unit, was aboard. Brazil-based Vale SA, the world's biggest iron-ore producer, said one of its senior executives was aboard. Norwegian oil giant StatoilHydro ASA said three employees -- two Brazilians and a Norwegian -- were on the plane. China -- which in March surpassed the U.S. as Brazil's biggest trade partner -- had nine citizens on the jet.

Also among those feared dead were figures from Brazil's elite. Pedro Luiz de Orléans e Bragança, a 25-year-old relative of Dom Pedro II, the Portuguese royal and emperor of Brazil deposed in 1889, was on board, a family spokesman said.

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