The death toll from a pre-dawn fire at Moscow's People's Friendship University has reached 40 after a 19-year-old student from Afghanistan died in hospital on Thursday night, Interfax reported Friday.  

A total of 117 people who were injured in the fire remain hospitalized with some still in grave condition, medical sources were quoted as saying.

Russian officials have blamed an electrical malfunction or improper use of household appliances for the deadly blaze, which broke out on Nov. 24 in a campus dormitory.

(Xinhua News Agency December 6, 2003)