Gold’s gym owner, girlfriend, children feared dead in private jet crash off Costa Rica coast
Gold’s Gym owner Rainer Schaller, 53, girlfriend Christiane Schikorsky, 44, and their two children Aaron Schaller and Finja Sghikorsky are feared dead after an aircraft carrying the German entrepreneur and his family crashed off the coast of Costa Rica on Friday. McFit, one of the companies owned by Schaller confirmed earlier that in all 6 people, including Schaller’s personal trainer Marcus Kurreck, 40, and a Swiss pilot, 66, were on the aircraft when it crashed.
Schaller is the CEO and founder of RSG Group which owns over 200 gym studios in Germany alone, and several others in Austria, Poland, and Spain. It has more than 1.4 million members. The RSG Group owns fitness brands such as McFit, Gold’s, John Reed, and more.
Authorities have so far recovered the bodies of one adult and one child, while 4 others on the aircraft are still missing.
“We have recovered some pieces of the plane that were washed in by the tide, and two bodies,” said Public Security Minister Jorge Torres in a statement.
Torres added that the bodies were found near the wreckage site, 20 miles from the Limon airport, but did not release the identities of the deceased.
Search and rescue operations began after the two-engine turbo prop aircraft carrying the Germans lost contact with the control tower in eastern Limon province.
The small private aircraft took off from Mexico and disappeared on the way to an airport in eastern Costa Rica, according to German media.
According to reports, the aircraft, the Piaggio P.180 carrying the German fitness tycoon and his family, went missing on Friday 33 kilometres from the coast on its way to Limon airport.
According to a 2019 investigation by German public broadcaster ARD, Schaller’s net worth at the time was estimated to be $250 million.
