Two bodies, believed to be those of Miss Honduras and her sister, have been found buried near the spa where they disappeared six days ago, police have said.

Authorities are awaiting confirmation from forensic officials that the bodies are beauty queen Maria Jose Alvarado, 19, (photo) and her sister, Sofia, 23, according to General Ramon Sabillon, the Honduran national police director.

Both women had been shot.

Plutarco Ruiz, the boyfriend of Sofia, and an accomplice, Aris Maldonado, have been arrested, Gen Sabillon said.

The sisters were last seen on the previous Thursday in a spa in Santa Barbara, about 240 miles west of Tegucigalpa, where they had gone to celebrate Ruiz's birthday.

Ms Alvarado, 19, was crowned Miss Honduras in April and was expected to compete in the Miss World pageant in London next month. She was supposed to have left for London on Sunday.

Gen Sabillon said Ruiz had led authorities to the bodies.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.