Two men have been arrested after Honduras beauty queen Maria Jose Alvarado, 19, and her sister were found dead nearly a week after disappearing.Ms Alvarado and her sister Sofia Trinidad, 23, vanished on Thursday after being seen leaving a party near the northern city of Santa Barbara.Both women were shot and their bodies buried in a field by a river, police say.Ms Alvarado had been due to compete in the Miss World contest in London.Plutarco Ruiz, said to be the boyfriend of Ms Trinidad, was detained along with another man, Aris Maldonado.Mr Ruiz confessed to shooting the two women and then burying their bodies with the help of Mr Maldonado, Honduras National Police director Gen Ramon Sabillon told media.The bodies were found in the village of Cablotales, near the River Aguagua, police announced earlier.The two women were last seen alive in a car without a licence plate as they left a birthday party on 13 November.Gen Sabillon said Mr Ruiz had confessed and led the authorities to the burial spot. No comment from Mr Maldonado was available immediately.Weapons and a car have been seized as part of the investigation and a “protected witness” has been providing valuable information, National Bureau of Criminal Investigation chief Leandro Osorio said.Organisers of the Miss World pageant issued a statement expressing their condolences, and announcing a tribute this weekend in honour of the dead women.”We are devastated by this terrible loss of two young women, who were so full of life,” they said.”Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Maria Jose Alvarado and Sofia Trinidad at this time of grief.”Before confirmation of the women’s deaths, supporters believing them abducted had protested in Santa Barbara, demanding their release.According to a UN report, Honduras has the world’s highest homicide rate, with 90.4 people murdered per 100,000 of the population. -BBC
