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SAN JOSE (Costa Rica), Oct. 22 (AP) Six people, apparently including the German businessman behind Gold’s Gym, feared death Saturday after a small plane crashed in the Caribbean off the coast of Costa Rica.
All five passengers are believed to be German citizens, according to Security Minister Jorge Torres. The pilot of the plane was Swiss.
Also read | Costa Rica plane crash: Turboprop plane carrying six German citizens crashes into Caribbean Sea.
Fragments of the twin-engine turboprop were found in the water on Saturday after the flight went missing on Friday, Costa Rican authorities said.
The flight plan submitted for the small charter plane listed Rainer Schaller as a passenger. A man with the same name runs an international chain of fitness and gyms, including Gold’s Gym and McFit.
Also read | Israeli stabbing attack: Palestinian teen allegedly shot dead by police in Jerusalem
Costa Rica’s assistant secretary of security, Martin Arias, said no bodies had been found at the site, about 17 miles (28 kilometers) off the coast of Limon airport.
“Debris has been found indicating that this is an aircraft,” Arias said. “So far, we have not found any dead or alive bodies.”
The aircraft was a nine-seat Italian-built Piaggio P180 Avanti, known for its distinctive shape.
The plane disappeared from radar en route to the coastal resort town of Limon.
Security Minister Torres said the plane took off from Mexico.
“Around 6 p.m., we received an alert about a flight from Mexico to Limon airport with five German passengers on board,” Torres said. The search began immediately, but was temporarily canceled due to bad weather .
Rainer Schaller was in the news in 2010 as organizer of the Love Parade electronic music festival in Berlin. The run on the event killed 21 people and injured more than 500. Authorities at the time said that when the situation at the entrance to the festival grounds was already tense, Schaller’s security failed to prevent the flow of people from entering the tunnel.
Schaller has pushed back against allegations of wrongdoing, noting that his safety concept was officially approved by the city. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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