Flight 447 'memory unit' found

PARIS, May 1 (UPI) -- A black box flight recorder memory unit from Air France Flight 447 that went down in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 was recovered Sunday, officials said.

Investigators hope the device will hold clues as to why the Airbus 330 crashed in stormy weather off the coast of Brazil in June 2009 while en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, killing all 228 people aboard, The Guardian reported Sunday.

The orange data recorder, one of two on the ill-fated plane, was located last Wednesday half-buried in sand by a robot submarine about 12,800 feet below the ocean's surface, the British newspaper said. The memory unit was found separately and was brought up to the deck of the ship Ile de Sein Sunday, Aviation Week reported.

The aviation news Web site said the French Bureau of Investigation and Analysis plans to attempt to exam the unit's data in Paris, but it likely will be several days before the process can begin.

The bureau said in a statement the memory unit was "in good physical condition." It remains to be seen, however, whether information inside it will be retrievable as investigators hope.

Searchers have not located the cockpit voice recorder, Aviation Weekly said.

The crash of Flight 447 was the worst in Air France's 75-year history.