Deep sea search parties have found one of two flight data recorders from an Air France flight that crashed off the coast of Brazil in 2009, reviving hopes of understanding what caused the crash.
French investigators said in a statement the flight data recorder, or black box, had been hauled up to the deck of a search boat.
Pictures published on the website of France's BEA air accident inquiry office before the box was pulled to the surface show an orange cylindrical object half-buried in sand.
The discovery comes after years of start-and-stop search efforts on a 10,000 square kilometre area of sea floor to locate the plane's two flight recorders, which investigators hope will settle a dispute over the cause of the crash.
The Airbus 330-203 plane plunged into the Atlantic off the northeast coast of Brazil en route to Paris from Rio de Janeiro in June 2009, killing all 228 passengers and crew on board after the flight hit stormy weather.
Three Irish doctors were among the dead.
Speculation about what caused the accident has focused on the possible icing up of the aircraft's speed sensors, which seemed to give inconsistent readings before communication was lost.
The black box, which records cockpit conversations, could give vital clues about the flight's final moments.
The recent discovery of chunks of the plane's wreckage, as well as the chassis of the flight recorder, had rekindled hopes of locating the black boxes and explaining the crash.
