One dead and over 141 students injured as a result of a false terrorist alarm on the Garissa University College campus last Sunday, April 13.
According to CBS news, an electrical transformer exploded in the school at around 5 a.m., which led students to believe it was yet another attack by Islamic extremist group, al-Shabaab. Earlier that week, al-Shabaab had stormed the halls of the university and murdered students en masse.
Thus, when the students heard the sound of the transformer explode, it immediately sparked a panic and eventual outburst of screams coming from the girl’s wing. These screams quickly escalated and spread to the rest of the building, which ultimately led to a stampede leading out of the building.
The University’s Vice Chancellor, Pete Mbithi, affirmed to the press that the explosion was nothing more than an unforeseen mishap in the electrical system. According to Mbithi, “There was no attack, but because of what happened in Garissa the other day they mistook it for an attack.” He later confirmed with ABC News that this was entirely unrelated to the recent terrorist attacks by al-Shabbab.
But despite the causation, the effects remained the same. After the students heard the explosions of the transformer, they began to take any means of escaping—running, hiding, and in some cases, jumping.
While some students only had to jump a few feet from their window, others went so far as to jump from the fifth floor. Most students executed this jump successfully, however, one was not so fortunate. This third-year male, attempted to jump from his window on the fifth floor, but could not hold up against the strength of the stampede below and was killed by means of trampling.
The stampede also impacted and hurt the crowd below. As a result, 141 students were injured total from this false alarm.
Just a week before the incident, al-Shabaab executed an attack on Garissa University College, which killed a total of 147 people, according to Kenya’s National Disaster Operation Center.
It was said that al-Shabbab showed up before sunrise and began massacring a prayer gathering happening at the college. The gunmen then proceeded to shoot whomever was in their way, with the exception of people of their own faith, Islam.
According to one account, the gunmen separated the hostages based on their religion and then freed those who were Muslim, leaving the rest to face their fate. The attack resulted in a multitude of injuries in addition to the 147 murdered.
According to the Mail & Guardian Africa, it was “obvious that the recent attacks have hurt the students both physically and psychologically.” In other words, the attack was only a minor portrayal of the great fear that still lingered in the hearts and minds of the students.
Garissa University College was established in 2011 near the eastern border of Kenya as the only public university in the region, according to ABC news. Because of the proximity, the school is only ninety miles from the Somalia border. This lays another issue due to the ongoing border issues between Kenya and unrest in Somalia.
Since the event, high relief and security has since been implemented to help cope with this issue.