American, Quinn Lucas Schansman, Identified As Malaysian Airlines MH17 Victim, Obama Confirms

The first American victim on the doomed Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 has been confirmed. President Obama announced that the victim, Quinn Lucas Schansman, had dual Dutch and American citizenship. This makes Schansman the first confirmed American victim of the MH17 disaster.

Jen Psaki, from the State Department, posted her condolences via Twitter this afternoon.

Thoughts and prayers go out to all families of Malaysia flight victims including family of Quinn Lucas Schansman, a dual Dutch-U.S. citizen.

— Jen Psaki (@statedeptspox) July 18, 2014

Schansman’s Facebook profile states he was residing in Amsterdam and was attending the International Business School at Hogeschool van Amsterdam. Quinn’s profile also states he was in a relationship with girlfriend Floor Van Dranen.

Floor’s facebook profile has been inundated with condolences and prayers after the incident. Floor has yet to post anything publicly about the incident, but friends are showing their support publicly on the page including Floor’s cousin who offered wishes of strength and hugs. The rough Dutch to English translation below:

“Dear Floor, Facebook I use rarely, but I know you read this. Dear cousin, it is very much grief what you are going through now. I think of you and wish you a lot of strength. I’m going to still speak in a different way. For now lots of love and big hug.”

The Chicago Tribune reported that President Obama called the plane crash a “global tragedy” and said it should “snap everybody’s heads to attention” that the conflict in Ukraine has widespread consequences. President Obama also noted:

“Evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile That shot was taken in a territory controlled by the Russian separatists.”

Other Americans may have been aboard the flight, but the White House has yet to confirm the official number of American deaths in this global tragedy. Malaysian Airlines has not released a full manifest of victims yet, but did release the entire 15-member crew list. A number of British victims were recently identified to have perished in the Malaysian Airlines MH17 crash via family and press.

Another haunting piece of video has surfaced via Instagram concerning the doomed Malaysian Airlines MH17 flight. A passenger uploaded a video of passengers loading luggage into overhead bins just prior to the plane’s takeoff. This would be the last known footage of the plane before the deadly crash.