Spain said on Sunday (10 May) it had found the two black boxes from the crashed Airbus A400M military aircraft that ploughed into a field north of Seville airport on its maiden test flight on Saturday (9 May), killing four of the six test crew.

The black boxes had been handed over to investigators, the government said in a statement. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy asked for maximum transparency from Airbus during the investigation into the cause of the crash.

Britain and Germany grounded their fleets A400Ms, Europes new troop and cargo carrier, after the first crash involving Europes largest defence project which has already been marred by delays and costs.

The planes, which cost just more than €100m (£72.6m, $112m) each, are assembled in Seville. Two of the Spanish test crew remain in hospital with serious injuries.

Meanwhile, France will keep its six A400Ms in operation for now but will limit their use, its defence minister said on Sunday.

Only flights of extreme importance for operations will be allowed until we have elements of the investigation that is going to be undertaken, Jean-Yves Le Drian told a news conference in Lorient, western France.