TEGUCIGALPA Honduras AP Honduras has lowered the official death toll from Hurricane Mitch by 1350 and suspended a governor after investigators couldn't verify hundreds of deaths she reported in her remote northwestern area. The new death toll of 5657 was compiled after the government sent teams to verify reports from regions across Honduras the Interior Secretariat announced Tuesday. Aid workers and journalists began questioning Honduras' estimated death toll after figures jumped drastically Nov. 2 the same day that news broke of a landslide in Nicaragua that covered two villages and killed up to 2000 people. That day Honduras' official death toll jumped from 600 to 5000. Later authorities raised the figure to 6400 then last week to 7007. The revised Honduras death toll lowers the overall death toll for the hurricane to 9071. Luis Torres spokesman for the committee overseeing the relief effort told The Associated Press that ``all the information is being verified by the mayors' offices the army the police public and private rescue groups and the authorities of the 18 provinces of the country.'' Federal authorities also announced Tuesday that they had suspended Gov. Lucila Esperanza Barahona de Castro of the Santa Barbara department near the Guatemala border after investigators could verify only 282 of the 1159 deaths reported in her area. Authorities cited by the newspaper El Heraldo said the suspension was standard procedure during an inquiry. Barahona said she couldn't have falsified the numbers because she didn't even give a death toll to the federal government. ``I don't know what source gave them the numbers'' she said. In addition to the 5657 dead Honduras said it had verified 8058 missing 12272 injured and 1.4 million homeless throughout the country. APW19981201.0685.txt.body.html APW19981201.0933.txt.body.html