When searching for a missing private plane with five German passengers off the coast of Costa Rica, the emergency services discovered two dead. The bodies of an adult and a child were found in the sea, reported the television station Teletica citing the Ministry of Public Security. Parts of the fuselage, seats and several pieces of luggage had previously been discovered around 28 kilometers from Limon Airport.
As the picture– Newspaper reports, Rainer Schaller, the founder of the fitness center chain “McFit”, with his girlfriend and their two children on board the machine, was also another German. The spokeswoman for RSG-Group GmbH confirmed to the newspaper that the family was among the inmates. The pilot is said to have been Swiss. According to the civil aviation authority, six people were on board.
Parts of the fuselage, seats and several pieces of luggage had previously been discovered a good 28 kilometers from Limón airport. A video made available to local media by the Ministry of Security showed, among other things, several backpacks and travel bags.
The machine went missing on Friday evening (local time) on the flight from Mexico to Costa Rica. Communications were lost as the plane approached Limón Airport over the sea, the Costa Rican Ministry of Public Security said. “The plane went off the radar about 25 miles from Limón airport. The plane was due to land at 6:58 p.m. We lost it at an altitude of 2,000 feet,” said Fernando Naranjo, director of the civil aviation authority. That’s a good 600 meters.
McFit founder Rainer Schaller
(Photo: Ina Fassbender/AFP)
The search work was initially suspended due to unfavorable weather conditions. The Coast Guard and Airspace Surveillance Agency later resumed the search. A command center was set up at Limón airport to coordinate the search work. Reports from the TV station Teletica According to reports, the US border guards are now also supporting the search work with a reconnaissance aircraft.
“We are aware of the case,” said the Foreign Office in Berlin. “Our embassy in San Jose is in contact with the local authorities to clarify the matter.” According to media reports, the missing plane was a Piaggio P.180 Avanti business jet. She started in Palenque in the Mexican state of Chiapas in the afternoon. The ruined city of the Mayas there is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most important archaeological sites in Mexico.
Rainer Schaller, 53, is the founder and managing director of the RSG Group, which also includes the chain’s fitness studios McFit belong. In 2006, the fitness entrepreneur took over the management of Lopavent, which organized the Love Parade until 2010. After the accident at the Love Parade in Duisburg in 2010 with 21 dead and more than 650 injured, Schaller hit the headlines negatively.