Friday, March 25, 2016 38 injured in security scare at Kenyatta University

By ELIZABETH MERAB
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Terrified Kenyatta University students jump through a window to safety after a terror scare at the institution. 38 students were injured in the incident. PHOTO | ELIZABETH MERAB | NATION MEDIA GROUP 
At least 38 students and members of staff are nursing injuries following a security scare at Kenyatta University on Friday morning.

The terror alert at the university library led to a stampede leaving many with fractured legs, soft tissue injuries while others were left in shock.

According to some of the students, the commotion was started by some students who were fighting inside the library.

However, some also say that it was caused by the collapse of a faulty elevator in the library, sending the library occupants into panic.

“My friend and I were in the library studying for the upcoming exams when we suddenly heard a commotion and started seeing people jumping off from third and fourth floors,” a second year student at the institution said.

The students scampered for safety, with some jumping out of windows in fear of an attack, with memories of the Garissa University College massacre still fresh.

“With the police issuing a terror alert, every little commotion can scare you and that is what happened,” added the student.

Some of the seriously injured were rushed to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) for specialized treatment.

Efforts to get access into the university were however futile after security guards deployed at the university’s entrance denied our reporter entry.

“We have been instructed to only allow into the institution students and staff who have their university’s identification card. Anybody else is not let in…not even visitors,” said one of the guards manning the gate.

According to the university’s website, the institution’s library, a five storey building, has six floors and a sitting capacity of over 6,000.

The incident comes hot on the heels of another assumed attack on Moi University's main Campus in which 20 students were last week injured when they jumped from their hostel rooms windows following an explosion triggered by an electrical fault.