The Honduran government has lowered considerably the official number of deaths caused by Hurricane Mitch, and has suspended a regional governor for inflating the number of deaths in her department.

The federal authorities now say that five thousand six hundred and fifty seven people died in Honduras as a result of the hurricane; previously they had spoken of some seven thousand victims.

Governor Lucila Esperanza Barahona was suspended when she could not verify the figures for those who died in her remote northwestern region to federal investigators.