1 student killed, 141 hurt after accidental explosion at Nairobi campus

A Kenyan official said on Sunday that one student died and 141 were injured in a stampede at the University of Nairobi when students mistook several accidental explosions from a transformer for a terrorist attack, Fox News reported.

Peter Mbithi, Vice Chancellor of the University of Nairobi, said that one male third-year student was killed in the crush. He said the injured students have been taken to hospitals for treatment.

He said an electrical transformer exploded about four times at 5 a.m. and students thought it was an attack by Islamic extremists like the April 2 attack by Somalia's al-Shabab rebels on Kenya's Garissa University College in which 148 people were killed.

Mbithi said many students were injured when they jumped from upper floors of their dormitories.