Status: 11/04/2022 2:07 p.m
At the end of October, a private plane crashed off Costa Rica. The fitness chain McFit has now officially confirmed: Founder Rainer Schaller is among the two bodies found. Four people remain missing.
The company McFit has officially confirmed the death of its founder Rainer Schaller. Schaller’s body and that of his son were identified after the plane crash in Costa Rica, the fitness chain said on Instagram. “The last few days have left us shaken and affected,” it says. Schaller was 53 years old.
They are the only passengers on the private plane who have been found so far. The other four – Schaller’s partner, the daughter of the two, a colleague of Schaller’s and the pilot – are still missing, it is said.
The map shows Mexico and Costa Rica with Puerto Limón. The plane had crashed into the Caribbean Sea.
The plane took off from Mexico on October 21 and crashed into the sea off the coast of Costa Rica. The cause is so far unclear. The search was stopped after eleven days.
Schaller built a fitness chain
Rainer Schaller was born in Bamberg, Bavaria, in 1969 and founded his first fitness studio in Würzburg in 1997. He relied on the discount principle in the fitness sector and created a huge studio chain with McFit. RSG Group also includes other fitness brands such as John Reed, Gold’s Gym and Cyberobics.
Schaller was also active in other areas: the group also includes model agencies and the artist management Tigerpool, for example.
Schaller as a witness in the Love Parade process
In 2010, Schaller hit the headlines as the rights holder in connection with the Loveparade disaster in Duisburg with 21 dead and more than 650 injured. But he was never investigated.
In the subsequent criminal proceedings against employees of the city of Duisburg and his company Lopavent, he appeared as a witness. In 2020, the proceedings were discontinued without a verdict – due to presumably insufficient guilt.