Tragedy in the Congo. At least 37 young people were killed late Monday night in Brazzaville, Congo, when they were trampled upon in their attempt to apply to join the country’s army.

The authorities have already started a preliminary investigation into this case.

“The provisional count is 37 dead and many injured” said the crisis management team set up by Prime Minister Anatole Colinet Makoso, calling it a “tragedy”.

According to the security service at the Michel D’Ornano stadium, the young men who wanted to join the army were many thousands. Local media reported that the stampede was caused by youths who wanted to apply to join the army, one of the country’s biggest employers.

In the Congo, male unemployment exceeds 20%, according to data from the International Labor Organization. Some of the youths forced open the stadium gate, others jumped in after climbing a wall.

Several photos posted on social media sites – some verified by AFP – they show dead bodies in the municipal morgue and injured people at the University Hospital and Military Hospital of Brazzaville. In at least two videos taken inside the morgue, bodies can even be seen on the floor. Some of the victims are half-naked, others are wearing only shorts and a t-shirt.

“There were so many people, we couldn’t all get in at the same time,” said a 24-year-old survivor. “Some fell and those who followed trampled them. There were injured in a more serious condition than me, I only have a dislocation in my right leg,” explained the young man who asked not to be named.

Another said that the candidates in his front row they fell, he fell upon them, and “other friends fell upon us.” He explained that he did not remember what happened next and that he “woke up in the ambulance”.

In a video posted on Facebook, Andre Ngakala Oko, the Public Prosecutor, said he had launched an investigation into “negligence” to identify those responsible. Oko visited the stadium and then, accompanied by military personnel responsible for the security of the site, went to the three hospitals where the victims have been taken.

Last week the Congolese army announced that he intended to recruit 1,500 young people aged 18-25.

Late Monday nightthe candidates forced open the stadium gate, where their evaluation process would take place, in the center of Brazzaville. Many of them fell and were trampled by those who followed.

Eyewitnesses and relatives of the injured said some were in critical condition.

The army has announced it is suspending the recruitment process in the capital “until further notice”.

“We should first honor their memory that they left us. These things happen. This situation was not caused intentionally, but it happened because young people need work,” said Adelard Yvonne Boda, the director of the municipal cemetery. “We have already received 32 bodies, which have been identified by their relatives,” he explained.