Wreckage discovered off Costa Rica
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Plane crashed with Rainer Schaller: Two bodies found
updates Puerto Limon After a small plane crashed off the coast of Costa Rica, salvage teams apparently discovered two bodies and wreckage in the sea. McFit founder Rainer Schaller and his family are said to have been on board the machine.
When searching for a missing private plane with five German passengers off the coast of Costa Rica, the emergency services apparently discovered two bodies and several pieces of debris in the sea. As the online newspaper crhoy.com from Costa Rica reports, the body of a child and later the body of a man were found in the morning local time. Local authorities have confirmed this. However, the identity of the victims is not yet known.
According to the head of the coast guard, wreckage was found in the sea about 28 kilometers from Limón airport, which apparently belonged to the plane.
Costa Rican Safety Minister Jorge Torres is currently assuming that six people were killed in the crash. The five passengers are probably German. The pilot was Swiss.
As the “Bild” newspaper reports, the machine is said to be the private plane of Rainer Schaller, the founder of the McFit fitness studio chain. The RSG group, which operates McFit, has confirmed that Rainer Schaller was sitting with his partner and their children in a small plane that disappeared from the radar on Friday evening South American time off the coast of Costa Rica, according to the “image”.
According to the Ministry of Public Security, the alleged remains of the machine were parts of the fuselage, seats and a bag, as reported by the television station Teletica. Apparently, there were also children on board the machine. “There were five passengers and one pilot on the plane — a total of six people,” Civil Aviation Authority director Fernando Naranjo said. “Based on the dates of birth, there were also two children among them.”
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 security ministry said. “The plane disappeared from 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,” Naranjo said. That’s around 600 meters.
Due to unfavorable weather conditions, the search work was initially stopped during the night. On Saturday, the Coast Guard and the Airspace Surveillance Agency resumed the search. A command center was set up at Puerto Limón airport to coordinate the search work.
“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.”
