It’s true what they say: Life is what you make it. So while the air crash in Taipei, Taiwan that killed 31 people is a tragedy to many people, to three women at the scene it was just a backdrop for their smiling group photo, no matter how inappropriate it was.

The TransAsia flight scheduled for Quemoy Island crashed shortly after take-off when it was seen colliding with a highway overpass before crashing into the Keeling River. Of the total 58 people on board, 18 are injured and 12 remain unaccounted for.

READ: Incredible Images from Deadly Passenger Plane Crash This Morning in Taipei

The photo, first published by Hong Kong’s controversy-courting Apple Daily, shows three smiling women posing together as a fourth takes their picture as boats on the Keeling River behind them can be seen trying to recover crash victims. One of the three women is even holding up a “split finger” hand sign, the ubiquitous gesture seen in photograph poses in Asia.

Erroneously called a “selfie” by many reports, the incident has outraged many Chinese netizens who took offense to the inappropriateness of the women. One user commented, “There has always been these types of people that are numb and without any humanity!” Another asked, “My countrymen, where has your inner essence gone to? Where is your compassion?My countrymen, where has your inner essence gone to? Where is your compassion?“

News of the crash has gotten the attention of many mainlanders after it was revealed that the majority of passengers – 31 – are from from the mainland.

A similar outrage was directed at the Philippines in 2011 when eight people died after a bus full of Hong Kong tourists was taken hostage. Published photos showed smiling Filipinos – including police officers – standing in front of the shot-out bus, something for which many Chinese netizens took as a national insult. “It is a loss of humanity when I see the smile on the face of the Philippine police when they take the photos,” one person wrote.