The search and rescue (SAR) mission for the flight MH370 in the northern and southern corridors have begun, after investigation confirmed that the missing jetliner made a turn back from the South China Sea towards the Andaman Sea in the early morning of March 8.

Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said countries, including Australia, China, Indonesia and Kazakhstan, have initiated the SAR operations.

The northern corridor stretches approximately from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand, while the southern corridor stretches from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.

Last Saturday Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that the SAR mission was expanded to the northern and southern corridors following data from the military's radar confirmed that a plane that turned back from the Vietnamese air traffic control, was flight MH370.

The search operation in South China Sea, meanwhile, had been ended.

Hishammuddin, who is also Defence Minister, said the Foreign Ministry had also sent diplomatic notes to countries involved in the SAR mission.

"For countries in the search corridors, we are requesting radar and satellite information, as well as specific assets for the search and rescue operation.

"We are asking them to share their land, sea and aerial search and rescue action plans with the Rescue Co-ordination Centre here in Malaysia so that we can co-ordinate the search efforts," he said at the daily news conference on MH370.

Half of the 14 countries in the two corridors had given verbal agreement to the effort.

The Defence Minister said Malaysia is leading the overall co-ordination of the SAR, while Australia and Indonesia have agreed to lead the operations in their respective region in the southern corridors, as demarcated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

Two of Malaysian ships, the offshore patrol vessels KD Kelantan and KD Selangor, together with a Super Lynx helicopter, have been deployed to the southern corridor.

On another note, Hishammuddin reiterated that Malaysia, which was leading the SAR mission, was not withholding any information that could help in the investigation of MH370.

Into the tenth day of aircraft missing with 239 people onboard, Hishammuddin said aside from no distress signal, the authorities also did not receive any ransom note, nor had any party came forward to claim responsibility.

Meanwhile, MAS CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said that there was no evidence that passengers had made phone calls after the jetliner disappeared.

He also said initial investigation revealed that the voice who had said "Alright, good night", the last communication from the cockpit to air traffic controller, belonged to co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid and it was sent at 1.19am before it disappeared from the radar on March 8.

The last transmission from its Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) was at 1.07am.

He also revealed that the main bulk of the cargo of the Beijing-bound MH370 were mangosteens.

On another development, police on Monday said that the flight stimulator seized from pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah's house on Sunday, had been reassembled in Bukit Aman to find clues of any connection with the missing plane incident.

To date, 26 countries are involved in the mission.