- Wreckage of a plane reportedly carrying German business mogul Rainer Schaller was found off the coast of Costa Rica.
- Schaller’s plane vanished Friday after departing from Mexico, according to authorities.
- His partner and children, as well two other unidentified passengers, were also aboard the flight, RSG Group told Insider.
Wreckage of an airplane reportedly carrying German fitness mogul Rainer Schaller — the founder and CEO of the gym chain McFit — was found off the coast of Costa Rica on Saturday, according to officials.
Authorities on Saturday said the remains of an aircraft they believe to be the missing two-engine turboprop were identified at sea near Costa Rica’s Límon Airport, German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported.
The small Piaggio 180 private jet— which also was transporting Schaller’s partner, Christiane Schikorsky, and their children —was first reported missing on Friday en route to Costa Rica from Mexico, per German newspaper Bild. The aircraft lost communication just under three hours after departing from the Mexican city of Palenque.
“Twenty-eight kilometers from the Limón airport, in the Caribbean Sea, wreckage was located that apparently indicates that it is the aircraft. At the moment we have not located any bodies or people alive,” Costa Rican Vice Minister of Public Security Martin Arias said. according to Deutsche Welle.
Schaller is the founder and CEO of RSG Group, which owns McFit, John Reed, and Gold’s Gym fitness studios around the world. He bought Gold’s Gym after the company filed for bankruptcy in 2020 as part of a $100 million deal.
McFit is the largest gym chain in Germany, with a total of 1.4 million members across 246 studios, including locations Austria, Italy, Poland, in Spain, according to the company.
