Death Toll in Russia Dorm Fire Now 42

MOSCOW (AP) -- The death toll from a fire at a Moscow university dormitory fire climbed to 42 with the death of a Chinese student who suffered serious burns, the Interfax news agency reported Wednesday.

The Nov. 24 fire raced through the dormitory of the Peoples' Friendship University, killing 33 students and leaving nearly 200 hospitalized. Nine of the patients have died, including the 19-year-old Chinese woman, who died late Tuesday.

Authorities have said that the building, a quarantine facility for recently arrived students, had no fire alarm system and no evacuation plan. One stairway quickly filled with toxic fumes, and students were trapped in another stairway by permanently locked steel doors. The dead and injured included citizens of dozens of countries, mostly in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The university was founded in 1960 and named Patrice Lumumba People's Friendship University in honor of Congo's first post-colonial prime minister; its name was changed in 1992.

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