A gay couple from Honduras have been stabbed to death and shot.

42-year-old Jorge Sarmiento and his 80-year-old partner Gerard Argiud were attacked by a number of people in their home in Atlántida on May 12.

Local reports revealed that the group of attackers were “strangers” to the couple who they stabbed and shot.

Sarmiento, who previously owned a gay bar in the area, died on the scene.

He was well-known in the local LGBT community

However, his partner, Arguid was rushed to the hospital in a critical condition but he died following complications.

Atlantis Travel Group said in a statement: “Reports indicate the couple were attacked by several people because of their sexual orientation and position as prominent members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.”

Honduras is rife with homophobia, with 215 people in the LGBT community being killed in the country in the last seven years.

Asociación LGBT Arcoíris General Coordinator Donny Reyes told the Washington Blade that the violence that LGBT people were facing in the country was unprecedented.

“What is happening in Honduras still does not have a name; it is simply savagery in the extreme expression of evil and lack of respect for life,” Reyes said.

They added that religion, the press and the state were all contributing to the issues.

“This is based in three elements. 1) Religious fundamentalism in the name of God that comes from the pulpits and urges governments to discriminate and (promote) hate against LGTB people.

“2) The press that contributes and promotes this hate and 3) Last but not least the state itself by not, at the very least, taking positive actions to punish all of those who commit these terrible crimes,” he added.