Six people died in the crash of a small plane off the coast of Costa Rica

Six people are believed to have died after a small plane crashed into water off the coast of Costa Rica.

Gold’s Gym owner Rainer Schaller, 53, his girlfriend Christiane Szykorski, 44, their children Aaron and Finnia, and the businessman’s personal trainer Markus Kurek, 40, are believed to have been on the flight on Friday.

The 66-year-old pilot of the plane, whose identity has not been established, was Swiss.

Authorities have found one adult body and one child, but have not released their identities, near the crash site about 20 miles from Limon Airport, according to Teletics.

The flight took off from Mexico and was supposed to land in Limon.

The flight plan filed for the small charter plane listed Rainer Schaller as a passenger. The man with the same name runs international chains of fitness and gyms, including Gold’s Gym and McFit.

At least one other person on the plane appeared to be a relative of Schaller, but that relationship was not immediately confirmed by authorities.

Costa Rican authorities said pieces of a twin-engine turboprop plane were found in the water on Saturday after the flight disappeared on Friday.

This handout photo shows the personal belongings of passengers on a flight found in the waters of the Caribbean Sea along with parts of a twin-engine turboprop plane in Limón, Costa Rica, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022.

This handout image shows an item found during the search for a small plane that crashed the previous day off the coast of Costa Rica, taken in Limon on October 22, 2022.

Martin Arias, Costa Rica’s assistant security minister, said no bodies had yet been found at the site, about 17 miles up the coast from Limon airport.

“Fragments were found that indicated it was an airplane,” Arias said. “Until now, we have not found any dead or alive bodies.”

The plane was an Italian-made nine-seater Piaggio P180 Avanti, known for its distinctive profile.

The plane disappeared from radar while en route to Limon, a resort town on the coast.

The Minister of Security reported that the flight took off from Mexico.

This handout photo released by Costa Rica’s Ministry of Public Security shows items found during an examination of a small plane that crashed the day before off the coast of Costa Rica, taken in Limon on Oct. 22, 2022.

Wreckage found in the Caribbean Sea off Costa Rica on Saturday may be part of a small plane with five German nationals on board that disappeared the previous evening, Costa Rican officials said

At least one other person on the plane appeared to be a relative of Schaller, but that relationship has not been confirmed by authorities.

Schaller is listed as “Founder, Owner and CEO of RSG Group,” a conglomerate of 21 fitness, lifestyle and fashion brands that operates in 48 countries and employs 41,000 directly or through franchises.

“Around six o’clock in the afternoon, we received a warning about a flight coming from Mexico to Limon airport with five German passengers on board,” Torres said. The search began immediately, but was temporarily suspended due to bad weather.

Schaller is listed as the “founder, owner and CEO of RSG Group,” a conglomerate of 21 fitness, lifestyle and fashion brands that operates in 48 countries and employs 41,000 directly or through franchises.

He was in the news in 2010 for his role as the organizer of the techno festival Berlin Love Parade. As a result of the stampede at the event, 21 people died and more than 500 were injured. At the time, authorities said Schaler’s security had failed to stop the flow of people into the tunnel when the situation was already tense at the entrance to the festival grounds.

Schaller has fended off allegations of wrongdoing, noting that his security concept has received official approval from the city.