The sound of an exploding transformer sounded like an armed attack on a Kenyan university early Sunday, causing a stampede that left one student dead and more than 100 injured.
The student who died 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.
Tensions were high at the campus, a week after gunmen from the al-Qaida-aligned group al-Shabab stormed another university, Garissa University College, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the Somali border, killing 148 people on April 2.
"We have lost one male student who fell from fifth floor," Mbithi said outside the accidents and emergency section of the country's main public hospital, Kenyatta National.
Witnesses said the transformer blew up after 4 a.m. (0100 GMT), setting off terrified 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.
