KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 -- The Malaysian government is seeking assistance and expertise from more countries in the ongoing search and rescue operation for the missing jet liner, acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told a press conference here Monday.

He said that the number of countries involved in the search and rescue operation has risen to 26 on Monday. These countries include two groups, those in the search corridor and those from which Malaysia is seeking assistance and expertise.

For countries in the first group, Malaysia is requesting radar and satellite information as well as specific assets for the search, while for those in the second group, Malaysia is asking them to share their land, sea and aerial search, as well as action plans with the rescue coordination center here in Malaysia so that the country can coordinate such efforts, he said.

The country is also asking for regular updates, including daily reports of such activities and details of any information it required.

"We are not at liberty to revel information from specific countries. as the coordinating authority we are gathering all information as part of the ongoing search and rescue operation," he added.

He also noted that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had spoken with Australian prime minister and the Chinese premier over the past 24 hours and the Malaysian Foreign Ministry had sent diplomatic notes to all countries involved in the search and rescue operation.

Currently the countries involved in the search and rescue operation include Malaysia, China, Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakastan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Turkmenistan, the United Arab Emirates, Britain, the United States, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Saturday that based on the new data, the Malaysian authorities are trying to trace the missing jet in one of the two possible corridors, a northern one from the border between Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to the northern Thailand, and a southern one stretching from Indonesia to southern Indian Ocean.