A Brazilian judge has ordered Air France to pay US$1.16 million in compensation to the family of a victim of last year's crash of one of its airliners that killed 228 people.

The Rio civil court judge ordered the French company late on Mar. 11 to pay a total of 2.04 million reais (US$1.16 million) as compensation for the death of Marcelle Valpacos Fonseca Lima, a 41-year-old woman who was Rio de Janeiro state attorney-general.

Judge Mauro Nicolau Junior said in his ruling that the crash over the Atlantic Ocean last June, the cause of which is still unclear, was in large part due to the "negligent conduct of the accused".

An Air France spokeswoman declined to comment while the airline studies the ruling.

The company said after the crash that it would compensate families of the victims through its insurers, with payments of around EUR100,000 (US$137,000) per victim as a compassionate gesture rather than an admission of liability.

Air France flight AF447 between Rio de Janeiro and Paris crashed into the sea during a storm on Jun. 1, 2009, killing all on board.

Passengers from 32 nationalities died in the crash of the Airbus A330. Among them were 61 French people and 58 Brazilians.

An international search to locate the wreckage failed to find the black box recorders that are crucial to pinpointing the cause of crash but is due to resume this month.