BAMAKO, Mali – At least 36 people were killed in a stampede Monday when a crowd surged against a metal barrier after a Muslim ceremony, Mali's minister of interior security and civil protection said.

Sadio Gassame said the stampede at Bamako's Modibo Keita Stadium took place during a ceremony marking the Muslim holy period of Maouloud. The incident occurred as tens of thousands of people were attempting to leave through a metallic enclosure.

Anguished families gathered outside the capital's Gabriel Toure Hospital where the staff was preparing to post a list of the dead. At least 64 others were wounded.

Sidiki Coulibaly was visibly shaken as he waited for the dreaded news. "I've already had it confirmed that my aunt died. We are now trying to find out what happened to her daughter. She's just 10 years old. They go to this event together every year," he said.

At the place where people had been crushed, security personnel were collecting piles of shoes to put into a waiting van. A young girl sat on a bucket at the edge of the scene, crying. She had lost both parents and didn't know her way home.