Wreckage of plane carrying McFit gym tycoon Rainer Schaller found
Rainer Schaller and Christiane Schikorsky attend a ball at the Maritim Hotel in Berlin, Germany, Jan. 11, 2020. (Alamy via Reuters)


Costa Rican authorities have located the wreckage and two bodies from a plane carrying five German citizens, including millionaire businessperson Rainer Schaller, that disappeared along the Caribbean coast Friday.

The wreckage was located early on Saturday morning about 17 miles (28 kilometers) from the country's Limon airport, Costa Rica's deputy security minister said.

The bodies of an adult and a child were also found in the water during the search.

Bild newspaper confirmed from company sources that German entrepreneur Schaller, his partner Christine Schikorsky and the couple's two children were among the six people on the plane. Among other ventures, Schaller founded the McFit fitness club chain in 1996, which now has hundreds of branches in Germany, Austria, Italy, Poland, and Spain.

Communication with the plane broke down around 6 p.m. on Friday evening (12 a.m. GMT Saturday), Costa Rica's Ministry of Public Security announced on Facebook.

"The plane disappeared from radar about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Limon airport. The plane was supposed to land at 6:58 p.m., we lost it at an altitude of 2,000 feet (60 meters)," the director of the Civil Aviation Authority, Fernando Naranjo, told the Teletica television channel.

Search efforts were initially suspended during the night due to unfavorable weather conditions.

According to media reports, the missing aircraft was a Piaggio P180 Avanti business jet. It had taken off in the afternoon from Palenque in the Mexican state of Chiapas.