Ramos bids farewell to business partner killed in plane crash

For Sergio Ramos, the last two weeks have been filled with sadness. Two plane crashes in less than 15 days have taken two very important people in his life and the Paris Saint-Germain defender said his goodbyes to both on social media. At the end of last October he said goodbye to Santiago Durán Alzugaray, a great childhood friend who disappeared during a flight between Lugo and Córdoba along with his plane, found days later in the province of Zamora. And now he has had to say goodbye to Rainer Schaller, one of his closest business partners, who was on board a private plane which disappeared while flying through Central America.

“I still don’t believe it, because the loss is infinite and very painful. A great man has left us, a tireless worker, a wonderful person, but above all a great friend. Thank you for your vitality, joy, trust and generosity. Thank you for making me part of your ‘family’. We will always remember you. Our thoughts are with your loved ones,” read the message which Sergio Ramos shared on his Instagram profile along with a photograph of himself alongside the billionaire.

The private plane on which German businessman was travelling from Mexico to Costa with his family is believed to have gone down off the coast on 21 October. Costa Rican authorities concluded the search for survivors this week. “We officially closed the search case for the plane crash in the Caribbean. After 11 days of continuous operation, the different institutions of the Ministry of Public Security, Air Surveillance, the Coast Guard and the land police have concluded it as no more evidence was found,” Martín Arias, Deputy Minister of Public Security, announced on 1 November.

According to Bild, Schaller was traveling on the aircraft with his partner, his two children (aged five and six) and another man of German nationality, in addition to the pilot. On the afternoon of 21 October, the aircraft disappeared from radar when it was planning to land in the province of Limón, on the east coast of Costa Rica. Just a day later, the human remains of two of the passengers (an adult and a child), various personal belongings and parts of the plane’s fuselage were found in the sea. But two weeks later, the results have not been as expected and the case has been closed.

Traffic accident in August

Rainer Schaller, who had been in a serious car accident in August spinning his Lamborghini in a storm, was the founder of the RSG Group, which includes the gym chains McFit, Gold’s Gym and John Reed Fitness - the latter the enterprise which Sergio Ramos joined with the opening of a gym in Madrid at the start of the year.

Schaller began his business adventure by setting up a gym in his parents’ attic, a place where some of his colleagues would go paying 15 marks at the time (about 8 euros). By 1997, he had opened the first McFit centre which bore many of the hallmarks of his philosophy - to establish a gym with economic prices which was affordable for all. Today the group has more than 1,000 gyms in 48 countries.