France's air accident investigation agency says an undersea search has located the flight data recorder from the 2009 Air France flight that went down in the mid-Atlantic.

In a statement, investigators said the black box was "localised and identified" this morning. The statement included photos of the recorder - a red cylinder partially buried in sand on the sea floor.

Investigators hope that the black box will help determine what caused the June 1, 2009 crash of Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to the French capital, Paris. All 228 people on board were killed when the aircraft plunged into a remote area of the Atlantic during a thunderstorm.

The bulk of the wreckage was only recently discovered in a deep-sea search.