Thousands of people had gathered at the Modibo Keita stadium in Bamako to listen to an Islamic preacher, who was speaking as part of the Muslim festival of Maouloud, when the stampede started.

There was no official explanation for the stampede but one witness said it started when people surged forward to touch the preacher for good luck.

Gates and fences around the stadium were in tatters on Tuesday morning. Abandoned shoes littered the scene.

Mali's government said an investigation will be launched.

Adama Mary Traore, a spokesman for the Gabriel Toure hospital, where many of the bodies and injured were taken, said at least 36 people has been killed and 112 others injured, two seriously.

An official involved in the organization of the event said nearly all those killed were women.

Crowds of people gathered at the hospital morgue overnight to identify bodies.

Some had complained about the lack of security at the event, Traore said, but the situation was calm in the afternoon as dozens of people stood silently waiting for the bodies to be released for burial.

At least 26 people were killed during Maouloud last year in a stampede near a mosque in Mali's northern desert city of Timbuktu.