ABIDJAN, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Three Chinese passengers have been identified as a Kenyan Airways aircraft they were traveling on went missing earlier Saturday morning, the Chinese Embassy in Coted'Ivoire confirmed on Saturday.

    The three Chinese, two men and one woman, boarded the Boeing 737-800 in Abidjan, the economic capital of Cote d'Ivoire, where the aircraft took off and was bound for Kenya's capital Nairobi via Cameroon's coastal city of Douala, the embassy said.

    The three were identified as Jiang Xuedong, a Chinese company employee based in Cote d'Ivoire, Bian Jingzhong and Shi Weisha, a couple doing business in Abidjan, the embassy said.

    There were altogether five Chinese passengers aboard the plane. The identities of the other two, who boarded the flight KQ-507 in Douala, were not known yet.

    According to Kenya Airways, Africa's second-largest carrier, the six-month-old passenger jet, with 114 people aboard, left Douala at five minutes past midnight but failed to arrive in Nairobi at 6:15 a.m. (0315 GMT) as scheduled.

    The last message from the aircraft was received by the Douala control tower immediately after its take-off. A distress signal was picked up on the West Coast of Africa.

    The Kenyan authorities said they were doing everything possible to locate the aircraft.

    Cameroonian radio said earlier that the plane crashed near Niete, south along the coast from Douala, but later reports suggested the crash had happened further inland. It was not clear yet whether the 105 passengers, a crew of eight and one engineer could survive.

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