QCOSTARICA – Rainer Schaller, the founder of CEO of RSG Group, whose outlets include Gold’s Gym and McFit, and his son, have been confirmed dead after a plane crash off Costa Rica late last month.
The nine-seat Italian-made Piaggio P180 Avanti plane disappeared from radar just off Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast on October 21.
On board, the downed plane was also Schaller’s life partner, Christiane Schikorsky, their daughter, a work colleague, and the pilot, who are still among the missing.
In a statement released on Friday, following the determination by Costa Rican authorities, The RSG Group confirmed the identity of the two bodies recovered were that of Schaller and his son.
“Today, it is with great dismay that we share the news that Rainer Schaller and his son have been identified as the deceased from the plane crash off the coast of Costa Rica,” the company said in the statement.
The aircraft, which took off from Palenque, a Mexican city popular with tourists for its archaeological ruins, two hours and 41 minutes before it lost communication with the guiding control tower near Limon, disappeared from radar as it was heading to Limon airport.
In the search and rescue efforts, rescuers came across the bodies of one adult and one child who had been found in the water, along with several pieces of luggage and plane wreckage.
Search and rescue operations continued to focus on a site about 28 kilometers off the coast from the Limon airport on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.
Public Security Minister Jorge Torres said it appeared the plane hit the water hard.
Costa Rican authorities ended the search on Tuesday, November 1, nearly two weeks after it crashed.