Lopes Autopsy Pending, Tributes Begin

By Stephen M. Silverman

04/29/2002 at 01:00 AM EDT

The body of TLC member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes will remain in Honduras for a few more days, the U.S. Embassy in the Central American country told Reuters on Sunday. The R&B singer and rapper, 30, was killed Thursday in a car crash near Jutiapa, in northern Honduras. "The autopsy needs to be completed, so it will be Tuesday or Wednesday when the remains of Lisa Lopes leave for the United States," embassy spokesman Gregory Adams, saying that the body is expected to be sent to Atlanta, told the news service. According to police, Lopes died after being taken to a hospital after suffering fractures and internal injuries when the sports utility vehicle she was driving with eight passengers flipped off a road. The passengers, all Americans, were injured, some seriously, and they remain hospitalized, says Reuters. A local newspaper, La Tribuna, reported that the accident occurred when Lopes was returning from a health center that treats chronic illnesses with natural methods. Meanwhile, on Sunday, reports the Associated Press, Lopes was remembered by 'N Sync at a news conference in Orlando for the boy band's Challenge for the Children Foundation (which offers financial support to children's programs and charities around the U.S.). "She had a passion for what she did," said Justin Timberlake, 21. "She loved to work and she loved to make music." Added JC Chasez, 25, "She had high energy and a lust for life. She was always energetic."