Malaysian Airlines MH17: Passenger Posted Aircraft's Picture on Facebook, Joked about 'Disappearing' before Boarding

A Dutch man – thought to be one among the 298 people on board Malaysian airlines flight MH17, which was allegedly shot down by militants over the sky in Eastern Ukraine – joked about disappearing on the way, and posted a photograph of the plane before boarding the jet, which exploded only hours into the journey.

The passenger, Cor Pan, posted the picture of the MH17 on his Facebook profile with the caption "If it disappears, this is what the plane looks like," when he was just going to board.

Malaysian authorities have not yet released the names of the passengers of the doomed airliner, but various news sources have confirmed that Pan was one of the passengers and the picture he uploaded could have been that of MH17.

It can't be said with certainty if the person had indeed any knowledge of what was going to happen or whether he could have been somehow related to the incident, or he had an intuitive feeling of something going to happen. But the post seemed to be in reference to the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, which vanished on 8 March with 239 passengers while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Only 7 hours after posting the message, news broke that MH17, travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur had been shot down in east Ukraine. Based on the timing of his Facebook update, newspapers have speculated, citing strong indications, as well as messages from his friends and family members that he could have been on-board.

Based on the comments posted by his family and friends, it is evident that he was on his way for a vacation to Malaysia.

"Happy holidays! I ask of God that no crazy things happen though!" one member commented, as translated from Dutch by the Metro.

"A huge beautiful holiday together and remember...we expect to see nice pictures," said another.

However, the remarks soon took sinister turns as family and friends began to ask for his flight number and wondered if he was in that doomed aircraft.

People even created a separate memorial page for Pan, where more 4,000 users are sharing their condolences.

Twitter users have also been sharing screenshots of Pan's photo to find more details about other passengers on board.