People Light Candles at the Dutch Embassy for Victims of Malaysia Airlines MH17, Which Crashed in Eastern Ukraine, in Kiev
People light candles at the Dutch embassy for the victims of Malaysia Airlines MH17, which crashed in eastern Ukraine, in Kiev July 17, 2014. The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was brought down in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing all 295 people aboard and sharply raising the stakes in a conflict between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels. REUTERS

A Dutch passenger of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 posted a Facebook message that now appears to have foreshadowed the tragedy.

Cor Pan is believed to be a passenger of the Boeing 777 that was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was apparently shot down by a missile over the Russian-Ukraine border on Thursday.

Before he boarded the plane, though, he posted a photo of the aircraft on his Facebook account, adding a message that seems to have eerily foreshadowed what have happened.

“This is what it looks like in case it goes down,” Pan wrote in Dutch on his social media account, presumably before getting into the plane.

Pan might have been just joking when he wrote the message. Although it started out as a sarcastic post, perhaps as a reference to the other Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 that remains missing to this day, it turned out to be a prophetic message on the tragedy that would happen a few hours after.

The post was shared over 12,500 times since the news of MH17’s tragedy has been reported.

Pan’s friends also wrote tributes on his Facebook, expressing their condolences to his family.

MH17 lost its 280 passengers and 15 crew members after it was believed to be shot down along the border between Ukraine and Russia. It took off in Amsterdam, and was en route to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia when it was shot down at 33,000 feet.

“Malaysia Airlines confirms it received notification from Ukrainian ATC that it had lost contact with flight MH17 at 1415 (GMT) at 30km from Tamak waypoint, approximately 50km from the Russia-Ukraine border,” the Malaysia Airlines said in a statement on Facebook.

“Flight MH17 operated on a Boeing 777 departed Amsterdam at 12.15pm (Amsterdam local time) and was estimated to arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 6.10 am (Malaysia local time the next day.”

There are 27 Australian passengers confirmed on the flight.