Search teams have located and recovered the flight-data recorder from the crashed Air France Airbus A330-200, a month before the second anniversary of the accident.

The crucial cylindrical memory unit, which had been missing when the chassis of the recorder was originally located, was found during a dive operation by a remote underwater vehicle on 1 May.

French investigation agency Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses states that the unit has been "raised and lifted on board" the recovery vessel Ile de Sein, which is supporting the search.

BEA says the device was located at 10:00UTC and retrieved at 16:40UTC.

AF447 FDR

AF447 FDR
 © BEA

There are no immediate details as to the condition of the flight-data recorder, or whether the information from the 1 June 2009 crash has been preserved.

BEA has not indicated whether it is has localised the cockpit-voice recorder from the aircraft, which crashed in the South Atlantic while operating flight AF447 between Rio de Janeiro and Paris.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news