Survivor found hiding in closet two days after Kenya university attack

GARISSA, Kenya (AP) — A student who survived Thursday's attack on a college in Kenya says she was so terrified she hid in a closet for two days.

Kenyan security forces found the 19-year-old woman this morning and had to call in one of her teachers to persuade her that they were, in fact, police and not more gunmen from the Somali extremist group al-Shabab.

Cynthia Cheroitich told The Associated Press from a hospital gurney that she hid in a wardrobe and covered herself with clothes, refusing to emerge though some of her classmates came out of hiding at the demands of the gunmen from the al-Shabab group. The young Christian woman said she was "just praying to my God."

Cheroitich appeared tired and thirsty, but otherwise seemed in good health.

The militants killed 148 people in the assault. Survivors say Christian students were singled out and shot on the spot.

%@AP Links

111-v-28-(Marta Migdalek (mihg-DAH'-wehk), AP correspondent)--A survivor of the Kenya university massacre which saw 148 people killed has been found two days after the attack. AP correspondent Marta Migdalek reports. (4 Apr 2015)

<<CUT *111 (04/04/15)££ 00:28

APPHOTO NAI102: Cynthia Cheroitich, 19, a survivor of the attack on Garissa University College who was found on Saturday two days after the attack, speaks to a television reporter in a hospital ward in Garissa, Kenya, Saturday, April 4, 2015. Cheroitich told The Associated Press from her hospital gurney that she hid in a large cupboard and covered herself with clothes, refusing to emerge even when some of her classmates came out of hiding at the demands of the gunmen from the al-Shabab group. (AP Photo/Andrew Njuguna) (4 Apr 2015)

<<APPHOTO NAI102 (04/04/15)££

APPHOTO NAI101: Survivor of the killings at Garissa University College Cynthia Cheroitich, 19, who was found on Saturday two days after the attack, drinks some milk in a hospital ward in Garissa, Kenya Saturday, April 4, 2015. Cynthia Cheroitich, 19, told The Associated Press from her hospital gurney that she hid in a large cupboard and covered herself with clothes, refusing to emerge even when some of her classmates came out of hiding at the demands of the gunmen from the al-Shabab group. (AP Photo/Christopher Torchia) (4 Apr 2015)

<<APPHOTO NAI101 (04/04/15)££

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Related topics