A private plane with five German occupants is missing off the coast of Costa Rica. Now it is known: it is about "McFit" founder Rainer Schaller and his family. Actor Til Schweiger is stunned. He recently spoke to Schaller on the phone.
The actor and filmmaker Til Schweiger was initially shocked by the drama about McFit founder Rainer Schaller. Compared to "Bild am Sonntag", Schweiger said: "We are all so shocked! I loved him like a brother." Just five days ago he would have been on the phone with Schaller. The missing entrepreneur told him that he was going on family vacation in South America for five weeks.
The two have been close friends for many years. Schaller maintained numerous contacts and liked to appear with celebrities at public events. In addition to Til Schweiger, for example, also with the two ex-boxing world champions Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko or with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The "McFit" founder Rainer Schaller, his girlfriend Christiane Schikorsky and their children Aaron and Finja and a man named Marcus Kurreck were on board a small plane on the way from Mexico to Costa Rica. The "Bild" newspaper reported this, citing the spokeswoman for McFit operator RSG-Group GmbH, Jeanine Minaty.
Radio contact with the private Piaggio P.180 aircraft was lost at 6 p.m. local time on the way from Mexico to the airport in Limón province. All measures were then immediately taken to locate the aircraft. Because of the nightfall and the weather conditions, however, the search was called off after a few hours.
A reconnaissance flight sighted debris in the sea after locating resumed on Saturday. A spokesman for the coast guard there confirmed less later that remains had been found in the sea, which probably came from a crashed plane. According to local media reports, a man and a child were also recovered dead from the sea.
Rainer Schaller founded McFit GmbH in 1996 and opened the first fitness studio in Würzburg in 1997. Because of the accident at the Love Parade with 21 dead and hundreds injured in Duisburg, he made the headlines as an organizer in 2010.
