Plane carrying businessman Rainer Schaller crashes off Costa Rica

Oct. 23 (UPI) -- A small plane carrying the German businessman Rainer Schaller crashed off Costa Rica on Friday, officials said.

Costa Rica's Ministry of Public Security said in a statement that plane had departed from Mexico and was heading to Limón when the control tower at Juan Santamaría Airport lost contact with the plane around 6 p.m. on Friday.

A flight manifest obtained by CNN showed that Schalller was onboard with four other German nationals and the pilot, including his partner, Christiane Schikorsky, and two minors.

The remains of the aircraft were found around 5:50 a.m. on Saturday morning, about 17 miles from the coast of Costa Rica.

Jorge Torres Carillo, Costa Rica's minister of public security, said in a statement on Twitter on Saturday night that the bodies of two of the victims have been found.

Schalller started the company RSG Group in 1997 and opened his first McFIT gym that same year. The company's gyms spread across Germany and by 2006 had 416,000 members.

McFIT gyms spread to Austria and Spain by 2009 and became the largest fitness chain in Europe by 2011.

Other brands owned by RSG Group include Gold's Gym, luxury fitness club Heimat, and studio fitness brand John Reed among others.