Malaysia asks more countries to help with search of missing jet

Malaysia said on Sunday search has become more complex with 25 countries involved in efforts to find a missing passenger jet across a vast area of land and ocean.

"The number of countries involved in the search and rescue operation has increased from 14 to 25, which brings new challenges of coordination and diplomacy to the search effort," said Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia's defense and transport minister at a latest press conference.

He said discussions are underway as to how to best deploy those assets and that northern search corridor, from Malaysia toward central Asia and the southern corridor, from Malaysia toward the Indian Ocean, are given equal importance in terms of search capabilities.

But currently more ships are needed for the southern corridor, he added.

Meanwhile, he said that Malaysia had asked China, the United States and France to share more satellite images along with other countries.

Prime Minister Najib Razak had also spoken with leaders of India, Bangladesh and Turkmenistan to ask them for help in the extended search, Hussein said.