Kenya: 50 students injured in stampede after earthquake

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - More than 50 schoolgirls were injured in a stampede at a school after a magnitude 4.7 earthquake rocked parts of Tanzania and western Kenya on Thursday morning.

According to the earthquaketrack.com website, the quake happened at around 4:47 a.m. local time (0147GMT).

An official from the Ram Hospital in southwestern Kenya told Kenyans.co.ke, a local news site, that 50 girls of the Keriri Girls School were taken to the hospital for treatment following the stampede.

“We received a distress call that some girls got injured due to the earthquake. So, we were on alert,” Ram Hospital administrator Enock Abobo said.

He added most of the students had been discharged from the hospital, but nine girls are still under observation.

Six students of Riyabe Mixed Secondary School in Keroka Town, Nyamira County (southwestern Kenya), were also hospitalized after sustaining injuries resulting from a stampede after the tremor hit parts of Nyamira in the wee hours of Thursday.

Nyamira County Commissioner Amos Mariba confirmed the injuries, saying that a 17-year-old student from the school broke his leg.