Two bodies have been found off the coast of Puerto Limón, in the eastern part of Costa Rica, where a small plane carrying five German nationals crashed into the Caribbean Sea, announced Saturday the Minister of Public Security of the Central American country, Jorge Torres.
“We found wreckage and parts of the plane that were swept away by currents (and) two bodies, that of a minor and part of the body of an adult,” Mr. Torres told a Costa Rican television network, confirming that the missing plane had been located.
Earlier, his deputy minister Martin Arias reported that wreckage of the plane, which had departed from southern Mexico, was seen “28 kilometers from Limon airport”.
According to the German tabloid newspaper Bild, the founder of the McFit gym chain, Rainer Schaller, 53, his partner, 44, their two children, and another man, 44, were on board the small plane. The pilot, 66, was a Swiss national.
The tabloid cited a representative of the company that operates the McFit gym chain, RSG Group GmbH. “At this time, we do not know more,” the spokeswoman told the newspaper.
The German Foreign Ministry, contacted by AFP, did not provide any information on the identities of the victims.
The aircraft, a Piaggio P.180 Avanti, operating a private flight had taken off, according to Costa Rican media, from the state of Chiapas, in southern Mexico. He lost contact with air traffic controllers in Costa Rica at around 18:00 yesterday Friday (local time; 03:00 yesterday Saturday Greek time), as he was heading to Limon, his destination, for landing.
Searches for him were immediately launched, suspended for a few hours as night fell and “bad weather conditions” prevailed, then resumed at 05:00 (local time; 14:00 Greek time), with the participation of port corps and aircraft.
A coordination and command center, involving members of the Red Cross in Costa Rica and men from the Fire Department, has been set up at Limón airport, authorities said.
Source: News Beast
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