INONGO, DR Congo (AFP) -- The sinking of a packed converted fishing vessel in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) claimed at least 113 lives and upwards of 70 people are still missing, three days after the disaster, an AFP correspondent said Friday.

Officials earlier that 112 people had died and 229 survived after the ship capsized in a storm on Lake Maindombe Tuesday.

Their new toll had revised the number of dead downward from a figure of around 130 given Thursday by the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC, MONUC.

MONUC had also said that only 23 people survived when the vessel, the Dieu Merci (Thank God), capsized Tuesday night on the lake in Bandundu Province, around 600 kilometers (360 miles) northeast of the capital Kinshasa.

"Among the 229 survivors, 65 are in hospital and the less serious cases are being looked after by the Red Cross," Oscar Bala, the governor of Bandundu Province, told AFP earlier Friday.

Searches were continuing for around 60 passengers still reported missing, he said.

A cargo plane carrying medicine for survivors of the accident arrived in Inongo, the lake port town from which the Dieu Merci had set sail, Friday morning, regional officials said.

The government in Kinshasa meanwhile suspended a large number of local administrative and security officials.

Information and Press Minister Vital Kamerhe said the sinking was due "to a violent storm, overloading and the poor condition of the vessel, and to the willingness and harassment of Inongo harbor authorities".

Speaking on television, Kamerhe said a legal investigation was underway to establish the responsibilities.

Pending the outcome of the investigation the government suspended the Maindombe district commissioner, the Inongo port official, Inongo's public prosecutor as well as the local migration official and the local official of the national intelligence agency.

The ship owner Ntoma Nzondo was arrested and will face trial.

A high-level government delegation had traveled on Thursday to Inongo.

The government will "take legal action against anyone implicated in the sinking of the Dieu Merci," Vice President Azarias Ruberwa, one of the visiting government officials, said Friday.

"A nationwide period of mourning could be declared, because it is the Congolese population as a whole that has suffered a loss," he added.

Ruberwa handed over two tons of medical drugs, buckets and soap as well as nearly 40,000 dollars (33,000 euros) in financial aid for survivors to local authorities.

The UN World Food Program also provided 900 kilograms (1,980 pounds) of food for the survivors.

Ruberwa said that according to a preliminary report on the accident issued by local officials, the Dieu Merci was carrying more than 400 passengers and also transporting cargo that far exceeded its capacity.

The ship's owner had told AFP Thursday that the boat had just over 300 people on board when it left Inongo.

"When the offboard engine Dieu Merci, which was made up of two coupled fishing vessels, left Inongo, it was carrying 305 passengers, of whom 120 have been pulled from the lake's waters and buried while 23 survivors are in hospital," said Nzondo, his voice trembling.

The boat, which experts have said was built to carry a load of between five and 15 tons, was also carrying some 20 tons of merchandise and was bound for Kinshasa.

Lake Maindombe is -- together with Lake Tumba further north on the border with DRC's western neighbor, the Republic of Congo -- a main tributary of the Congo River, on the banks of which the capital, Kinshasa, sits.

Converted fishing boats, often overloaded with cargo and passengers, are a common sight on DRC waterways.

Many Congolese prefer to travel round the vast central African country by river or across lakes, rather than by the country's roads, which are in disrepair and dangerous in parts of the country where armed groups still roam despite a peace pact ending nearly five years of war.