ASTANA, December 25. /TASS/. The tail section of an Embraer 190 passenger plane that crashed near Aktau in Kazakhstan sustained the least amount of damage and remained virtually intact while the rest of the plane was destroyed, according to photos and video footage from the site of the incident published by the Kazakh Emergencies Ministry.

According to video footage, a rescue helicopter was working on site. First responders immediately started extinguishing the fire that broke out after the crash; the video also shows the undamaged part of the plane.

"Hotlines are active in Astana’s operations center and at the Mangystau regional department of emergency situations, 296 calls have been received so far," the ministry said.

An Embraer 190 passenger plane operated by Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), which was en route from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to Grozny, the capital of Russia’s North Caucasus region of Chechnya, crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau earlier on Wednesday. According to preliminary reports, there were 69 people on board the plane, nationals of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. According to the office of Azerbaijan’s prosecutor general, 32 people survived, while Kazakhstan’s Emergencies Ministry reports 29 survivors.