TORONTO – A passenger on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 posted a photo of the plane on his Facebook page moments before he boarded in case “it disappears.”
Cor Pan, from the Netherlands, posted the photo at 11:03 a.m. local time with the message; “Mocht hij verdwijnen, zo ziet hij d’r uit,” which roughly translates to; “If it disappears, this is what it looks like.”
The post was a reference to missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared on March 8 and is still being searched for in the Indian Ocean.
Flight MH17, which was travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was allegedly shot down near the Russia-Ukraine border.
All 298 people on board are believed dead.
Pan was on the flight with his girlfriend, Neeltje Tola, heading out on vacation.
Comments under the photo from Pan’s friends started with “Happy holidays” and “A great vacation dude” before turning to disbelief as news of the crash broke.
There are now hundreds of condolences posted, with many friends still in shock.
“I can’t believe this … totally broken. Rest in peace,” one friend posted.
There were 154 Dutch, 27 Australians, 45 Malaysians (including two infants), 12 Indonesians (including an infant), nine from the United Kingdom, four Germans, four Belgians, three from the Philippines, and one Canadian on board the plane.
Malaysia’s prime minister hasn’t confirmed the crash was an attack, but said no distress call was made and the flight route had been declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
-With files from Erika Tucker.
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