SAN JOSE (Reuters) – German businessman Rainer Schaller, known as a group of fitness studios, was among the passengers on a plane believed to have crashed in Costa Rica, authorities in the Central American country said on Saturday.
Costa Rica authorities said they found wreckage earlier Saturday about 17 miles (28 kilometers) from Limone airport believed to be from a private plane carrying Schaller, founder of German gyms chain McFit, and some members of his family.
Schaller, 53, was traveling with other Germans including a 44-year-old woman, a 40-year-old man and two minors. Costa Rica’s security ministry said the 66-year-old pilot was a Swiss citizen.
Costa Rican Security Minister Jorge Torres said earlier that the Costa Rican authorities received an alert Friday evening about the missing plane, which was on its way from Mexico to Limón.
Torres said the plane lost contact with the control tower near Barra de Parismina, a few minutes from Limón.
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Additional reporting by Alvaro Murillo in San Jose; Written by Cassandra Garrison. Editing by Jason Neely, Matthew Lewis and Daniel Wallis
Our criteria: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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