MCFIT millionaire Rainer Schaller was pictured with his family just days before he was involved in a tragic plane crash.
The last haunting photo shows the smiling German Millionaire with his girlfriend Christiane Schikorsky, and their kids Aaron and Finja on holiday before their private jet crashed off the coast of Costa Rica last week.
The German millionaire had reportedly taken off from Mexico alongside his family on Friday night when their plane disappeared.
A man named Marcus Kurreck – thought to be a personal trainer – was also on board.
Costa Rica’s public security minister, Jorge Torres, said the Piaggio 180 jet carrying the five German nationals vanished on its way to Limon in the east of the country.
The plane reportedly lost contact with the airport’s control tower at around 6pm while flying some 20 miles off the coast near the Parismina area.
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Search teams were later deployed to scour the waters for wreckage over the weekend near the jet’s last known location.
Officials later confirmed that discoveries of two bodies – one man and one child.
They also found luggage and one of the jet’s seats about 25 miles from the plane’s destination at Juan Santamaría airport.
Civil Aviation Authority director Fernando Naranjo told Teletica on Saturday: “The plane disappeared from radar about 25 miles (approx. 40 km) before Limón airport.
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“The plane was due to land at 6:58 p.m., we lost it at an altitude of 2,000 feet.”
According to BILD, the family were enjoying a trip across Latin America when the tragic incident occurred.
The German outlet suggested it was their last trip as a family before Rainer’s six-year-old son was due to start school.
They added that the McFit founder “wanted to explore the world with his family” including “admiring the fascinating penguins on Tierra del Fuego.”
After the crash, a McFit spokeswoman confirmed Schaller, the company’s founder and CEO, and his family were on the plane when it went off grid.
The private jet took off from Palenque in Mexico – a city popular for its archaeological ruins – two hours and 41 minutes before it lost contact with the control tower near Limón.
According to FlightRadar pulled by BILD, the plane was 69 metres above sea level flying at a speed of 274mph when it disappeared.
Schaller founded the fitness chain McFit in 1996 and there are now more than 250 studios in Europe and 1.4 million members.
He hit the headlines in 2010 after 21 people died in a stampede at a festival he organised in the western German city of Duisburg.
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After the tragedy, Schaller said the festival would be permanently cancelled.
Schaller testified as a witness in court proceedings in 2018, accepted moral responsibility, but was not charged.
