Thirteen firefighters have been arrested in France after a new recruit claimed he was raped during an initiation ceremony that went wrong.

The young man told police that he was set upon in a bus carrying 30 Paris firefighters back from a gymnastics competition in the city of Colmar, and was then stripped, slapped and bitten, according to the Agence France Presse.

When he protested, several of his colleagues pinned him to the ground while one of them raped him and another filmed the attack on a mobile phone. An officer was alleged to be present at the time, but failed to intervene.

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According to the BBC, the Paris fire brigade – which has an 8,500-strong staff and is highly regarded – said the incident was “particularly serious” and promised that there would be a thorough investigation into the matter.

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