key stone
After the alleged crash of a small plane with five Germans on board off the coast of Costa Rica, two bodies have been found. The pilot of the crashed machine has Swiss nationality.
Costa Rican Public Safety Minister Jorge Torres said the dead bodies found in the Caribbean Sea were an adult and a child.
The machine, which started from Mexico, has been missing since Friday evening. On Saturday morning (local time), debris had already been found in the sea, which presumably came from this aircraft.
Pilot with a Swiss passport
According to the Costa Rican government, five Germans and one Swiss pilot were on board the plane. According to media reports, the machine was a Piaggio P.180 Avanti business jet.
According to information from “Bild”, the Germans in the machine were the founder of the McFit gym chain, Rainer Schaller, his girlfriend, their two children and another man. The newspaper reported this, citing the spokeswoman for McFit operator RSG-Group GmbH, Jeanine Minaty. “We don’t know more at the moment,” the spokeswoman was quoted as saying.
Gone from radar
According to information from Costa Rican media, the machine had departed from the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. She was on her way to the airport in the Costa Rican province of Limón when contact with her was lost at 6 p.m. local time (Saturday, 2 a.m. CEST), Minister Torres said. The machine suddenly lost its connection with the control tower at Barra de Parismina Airport.
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 Limón airport to coordinate the search work.
SDA
