Also Known as the Queens of Taste

The injured were taken to a hospital and they are trying to remove those killed from the bus to identify them, according to the local Fire Official, Erick Mejia.

Confirmed so far are the deaths of Cristi Yahaira López, of another musical group, Kazzabe, and the bus driver, Luis Mar Espinoza of Choluteca.

Survivors thus far are Carlos Bernárdez, Jesús Martínez, Wendy Lizeth Matute, Walter Eberto Ruby, Víctor Guity, José Fernando Casco, Adelmis Cruz, Keyla Julibeth Heyke, Luis Alberto Barrios, and Iris Silva.

The bus crashed at 5:15 am some 220 kilometers north of the capital of Tegucigalpa on the road between El Progreso and Tela. A semi-truck hit the bus and caught fire, trapping those inside “so the occupants couldn’t get out”, Mejia said.

Las Chicas Samba (or Zambat) are from the city of La Ceiba. They leaped to national fame in 2009 with their first recording, Vamos a Bailar, featuring a 14-piece music ensemble mixing calypso, reggaeton, merengue, bachata and romantic styles.

The young women also worked with musical promoter “Roland’s Ceibeñas” (known in La Ceiba as Roland’s Chicas) and went by the name of “Las Reinas del Sabor” (the Queens of Taste).