Costa Rica Plane Crash Update: Gold's Gym Parent Company Confirms CEO Rainer Schaller, Family Aboard Aircraft

The RSG Group, the parent company of Gold's Gym, has confirmed that founder and CEO Rainer Schaller was aboard the aircraft that crashed in Costa Rica on Friday.

In a statement released Monday, the company said Schaller, "his family, and two other people were on board the aircraft at the time of the crash." However, the company did not confirm the German businessman's death, the Associated Press reported.

Search and rescue crews in Costa Rica have already recovered two bodies from the crash. According to People, they belonged to one adult and one child.

The statement also read: "We are shocked, stunned, and full of grief about this tragic accident." It added that the news over the last few days had deeply shaken many in the company. It went on to say that "our thoughts are with the family in these difficult hours."

The company further noted that authorities are still investigating the situation and cannot comment any further on what is happening.

Costa Rica Plane Crash: Nationalities of People Aboard the Aircraft Revealed

CNN has obtained a copy of the aircraft's flight manifest from Costa Rica's Ministry of Public Security. It revealed that all five passengers were Germans, including Rainer Schaller, his partner, Christiane Schikorsky, and two minors.

The pilot, who also died, was confirmed to be Swiss. The plane was on its way from Mexico to Limon, Costa Rica.

However, it lost contact with the control tower at Costa Rica's Juan Santamaria International Airport at around 6 p.m. local time while flying over the northeastern Parismina area off Costa Rica's Caribbean Coast.

According to Associated Press, the plane was a nine-seat Italian-made Piaggio P180 Avanti, and pieces of it were found in the water on Saturday.

On Sunday, search and rescue operations personnel also found backpacks, bags, and the two bodies. Several organizations, including the Red Cross, are involved in the search and rescue efforts.

Who Is Gold's Gym Owner Rainer Schaller?

Rainer Schaller is known as a fitness enthusiast and was listed as the RSG Group's "founder, owner, and CEO."

The Associated Press reported that his company is a conglomerate of 21 fitness, lifestyle, and fashion brands. It operates across 48 countries and has 41,000 employees,

Aside from Gold's Gym, it also owns fitness brands like McFit and Cyberobics. While he was not the founder of the iconic Gold's Gym, his company did acquire it in July 2020.

Schaller was trained as a retail salesman before getting started in the fitness industry when he opened his first gym in Würzburg, Germany, in 1997.

He was also involved in some controversy in 2010 as the organizer of the Berlin Love Parade techno festival. The event led to a stampede that killed over 21 people and injured over 500 others.

However, the German businessman denied any wrongdoing and pointed out that his security concept had received official city approval.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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