ASTANA, December 25. /TASS/. The state of local emergency has been declared in the Tupkaragan District of the Mangystau Region of Kazakhstan over the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane, the Emergencies Ministry of Kazakhstan said.

"By the order of the Tupkaragan District akimat, a state of local emergency has been declared […]. Employees of the Emergencies, Interior and Defense ministries, the National Guard, the non-state fire service, the disaster medicine center, ambulance brigades and local executive bodies have been engaged in the operation," the statement reads.

An Emergencies Ministry hotline has been established, which has already received 571 calls.

The Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190, flying from Baku to Grozny, crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday. According to the latest reports, the plane carried 69 people, mainly citizens of Azerbaijan, as well as citizens of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. According to the Prosecutor’s Office of Azerbaijan, 32 people survived.