( CNN ) -- Deep red roses , waxy white lilies and bright , cheery sunflowers ; as single blooms and in large bouquets , they pile up close to desk 29 at Amsterdam 's Schiphol Airport . Twenty-four hours ago this was where Malaysia Airlines ' Flight MH17 passengers checked in before boarding their ill-fated plane ; bound for Kuala Lumpur , their journey would end far too soon , in a Ukrainian field close to the border with Russia . On Thursday , Suzan De Wit was chatting to many of those fliers . A customs officer at the airport , she helped them claim back their VAT ( sales tax ) before leaving the country . A day later , a crying De Wit was among those leaving floral tributes to the dead , still stunned by the tragedy that had unfolded . `` We saw a lot of the people that are on the plane and it 's just really weird to me to imagine that they are gone , '' she explained tearfully . Like De Wit , many of the others bringing flowers had little connection to those on the plane . Here to catch flights of their own , they dash inside , stopping at the airport florist -- more used to creating `` welcome home '' bouquets than funereal arrangements -- before walking back out onto the sidewalk to lay their offerings on the concrete . Outside the terminal , there are plenty of signs that this is no ordinary day at Schiphol , one of the world 's busiest airports : The growing pile of flowers , the condolence book rapidly filling with messages of grief and support and , across the road , past the lines of cars pulling up to drop travelers off , huge numbers of film crews from across the world . But step inside the building , and it is business as usual : passengers looking forward to long-awaited holidays or arriving in the city for business meetings wheel suitcases across the concourse , shops and cafes are busy , and flights take off and land as usual . This extreme normality caused difficulties for at least one man , distressed and desperate to find out what had happened to his business partner , who he feared was on Flight MH17 , and who was not answering his increasingly frantic calls . With no signs offering advice to those trying to check up on possible passengers , he was left wandering the airport , shuttling from one information desk to another , clutching one mobile phone to his ear and another in his hand as he tried to reach someone , anyone , who could tell him if his friend was on board . Sadly , there was to be no good news ; after one call , crying `` I knew it , I knew he was on the plane ! '' he hurried away . Many of the relatives of those on the plane are being cared for at a local hotel while they work out what to do next . The airline has offered them $ 5,000 compensation to cover their immediate expenses , and has said it will try and find a way of getting them to the crash site if they want to see it . It says visiting the site where a plane came down has proved helpful to relatives in some previous cases , but the location of MH17 's final resting place -- in the middle of a conflict zone -- makes this problematic , to say the least . As the arguments and investigations over what brought down the plane go on , elsewhere in the Netherlands , other makeshift shrines are popping up . In the North Holland fishing village of Volendam , bouquets have been laid outside a flower shop owned by Neeltje Tol , who is believed to have been on the downed plane . Tol 's boyfriend , Cor Schilder , apparently posted a jokey picture of the Malaysia Airlines plane on Facebook shortly before take-off : `` In case it goes missing , this is what the plane looks like . '' On Friday , stunned customers and friends stopped by to sign a book of condolence and pay tribute to the florist ; one weeping woman , a regular visitor to the store , said Tol was `` a very nice girl '' who would be sadly missed . As word spreads of those caught up in the tragedy , the number of mourners is only likely to increase in the coming days . CNN Flight 17 full coverage . CNN 's Saima Mohsin , Erin McLaughlin , Alex Felton and Antonia Mortensen contributed to this report .
Signs of MH17 tragedy at Amsterdam 's Schiphol Airport , where ill-fated plane took off . Friends and complete strangers among those leaving floral tributes at terminal building . Comment: U.S. believes plane was likely shot down by surface-to-air missile .