NAIROBI — A Kenyan student died and more than 100 others were injured as they fled after a electricity transformer explosion before dawn on Sunday triggered fears their campus was being attacked, officials said.
Students jumped from windows at their University of Nairobi residence halls in a stampede that underlined growing tensions just over a week after gunmen stormed another university campus.
The dead student was among others who jumped from residence halls as high as five floors up, fearing the University of Nairobi's Kikuyu campus had come under attack, university vice chancellor Peter Mbithi told Reuters.
"We have lost one male student who fell from fifth floor," Mbithi said outside the emergency section of the country's main public hospital, Kenyatta National.
Witnesses said the transformer blew up at about 4.30 am (0130 GMT), setting off screams from the women's wing of a dormitory. The panic spread to the men's wing, where students woke up and scrambled to get out.
Gunmen from the al Qaeda-aligned group al Shabab stormed Garissa University College on April 2, killing 148 people on April 2.
Students said Sunday's incident evoked memories of the Garissa attack. "We thought it was another al Shabab attack," said Eddy Capella, a first-year student.
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