--- description: What appears to be a photo taken by MH17 passenger before takeoff makes the rounds on social media. title: Malaysia Airlines Ukraine Crash: Passenger's Eerie Photo Goes Viral image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [#MH17](/tag/mh17/) ## #MH17 Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # What Looks Like an MH17 Passenger's Photo, Taken Before the Crash, Goes Viral by [Stephanie Burnett](/author/stephanie-burnett/) ## Stephanie Burnett Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 18, 2014 8:42 AM CUT by [Stephanie Burnett](/author/stephanie-burnett/) ## Stephanie Burnett Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 18, 2014 8:42 AM CUT When Cor Pan — the Facebook identity of a man who appears to have been a passenger on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 — was waiting to board his flight to Kuala Lumpur, he did what many passengers often do. He took a picture of what seems to be the ill-fated plane, while with his traveling companion and girlfriend, identified as Neeltje Tol, at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. But it’s the caption of the photo that makes the image particularly unnerving. > [](https://twitter.com/HuffPostUK/status/489807505615519745) “If it disappears, this is what it looks like,” wrote the Dutch resident on his Facebook page — a reference to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared in March. The photo has since gone viral on social media. It cannot be confirmed if the passenger’s full name is Cor Pan, as he [also goes by](http://www.vastcountenance.nl/3/band/ "undefined") the last name Schilder. What is evident, however, is the pain and heavy stream of condolences written on [Pan](https://www.facebook.com/cor.pan.7?fref=ts "undefined") and [Tol’s](https://www.facebook.com/neeltje.tol "undefined") Facebook pages from loved ones who believe they’re never returning home. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3004243/malaysia-airlines-ukraine-crash-mh17-cor-pan-shilder/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3004243/malaysia-airlines-ukraine-crash-mh17-cor-pan-shilder/"},"headline":"What Looks Like an MH17 Passenger's Photo, Taken Before the Crash, Goes Viral","datePublished":"2014-07-18T08:42:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:13:20.380Z","description":"“If it disappears, this is what it looks like”","url":"https://time.com/3004243/malaysia-airlines-ukraine-crash-mh17-cor-pan-shilder/","keywords":["#MH17","The Netherlands","Malaysia Airlines Flight 17"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Stephanie Burnett","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/stephanie-burnett/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/mh17/","name":"#MH17"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3004243/malaysia-airlines-ukraine-crash-mh17-cor-pan-shilder/","name":"What Looks Like an MH17 Passenger's Photo, Taken Before the Crash, Goes Viral"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"What We Know About the MH17 Crash","description":"Just the facts about Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 that crashed in Ukraine.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/tvZTISQg/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-07-17T20:19:21.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tvZTISQg.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3004243/malaysia-airlines-ukraine-crash-mh17-cor-pan-shilder/","duration":"PT1M16S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3004243/malaysia-airlines-ukraine-crash-mh17-cor-pan-shilder/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```