Survivor from Kenya massacre emerges after two days in wardrobe

GARISSA, KENYA: A survivor of Kenya's university massacre who hid in a wardrobe for two days too terrified to come out was rescued safely Saturday, dehydrated but apparently unharmed, Kenya Red Cross said.


"A survivor has been discovered, she was hiding in a wardrobe," Kenya Red Cross spokesperson Arnolda Shiundu told AFP.

"She has been taken to hospital and she's currently undergoing assessment by doctors."

The 19-year old woman was initially too scared to come out until a university lecturer she knew came to convince her that the police officers were not the Shebab gunmen who carried out the killing of nearly 150 of her fellow students, police said.

"She is the latest survivor, she has been hiding in a wardrobe for two days," a police officer involved in the security operation said, who asked not to be name. "That is when she came out of the wardrobe and rushed to hospital."

Read: Somali militants kill 147 in Kenya university massacre

The student, who was rescued on Saturday morning, some 50 hours after the attack began. The gunmen were killed on Thursday evening.

The BBC said she told them she drank "body lotion when she felt hungry."

Kenyan troops searching the building were alarmed when they heard sounds coming from inside a wardrobe.

"She kept asking for reassurance from the security forces they were not al Shebab before she could come out," the police officer said.

"She was given milk and rushed to the Garissa hospital, where she is being observed before being given counselling."

Four survivors were also found on Friday, Shiundu said.