A Ukraine International Airlines plane carrying 176 people crashed minutes after takeoff from Tehran, Iran, to Kyiv, Ukraine, early Wednesday morning, killing everyone on board.
The victims included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, and 11 Ukrainians as well as nationals from Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany, and the UK, reported Business Insider quoting Ukraine's foreign minister.
According to testimonies posted by the victims' family and friends, many of them were traveling home from visiting relatives during the holidays, and students heading back to universities around the world for the start of the new academic term.
Newlyweds, students, wives, and daughters
Among those killed is Saeed Tahmasebi, a PhD student in systems engineering at Imperial College London, a top university in the UK.
The university described Tahmasebi as a brilliant engineer with a bright future, and said his contributions to systems engineering will benefit society for years to come.
Shirin Hakim, the president of the university's Iranian Society, told Business Insider that Tahmasebi had been on their way back to the UK from Tehran with his wife on Flight 752. Both died in the crash.
"His story embodies the dedication and struggle that Iranian students around the world experience when advancing their careers abroad," she said.
Mohammad Hossein and Zeynab Asadilari, a Canadian-Iranian brother and sister, both died in the crash.
According to the BBC's "Today" radio program Wednesday, Asadilari was in her 20s and a close friend described her as "such a traveler, she loved exploring the world."
Nikitah Tarabian, another friend, told the BBC: "I don't know how to react — this person we were literally texting two days ago. She was online on social media and then within a few minutes she was gone."
Trudeau paid tribute to the Canadian academics on the flight, calling them "bright students and dedicated faculty members, all had so much potential, so much life ahead of them."
Neda Maghbouleh, an Iranian assistant professor at the University of Toronto, also tweeted that the death of "young, brilliant, hopeful Iranians who were returning to their studies in Canada represents an unfathomable loss to Canadian higher education, arts, science."
Hamed Esmaeilion, who lives in Richmond Hill, Ontario, lost his wife and daughter in the crash. He told CBC Toronto that it was "not fair what happened," and said he had to call his daughter's school to tell them she will not be returning.
Sheyda Shadkhoo, who lived and worked in Toronto, had been in Tehran to visit her mother and sisters and on her way home, according to CNN.
Her husband, Hassan Shadkhoo, told CNN she had called him 20 minutes before the flight took off, saying she was worried about tensions between Iran and the US following the assassination of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
"She wanted me to assure her that there wasn't going to be a war. I told her not to worry. Nothing's gonna happen," Shadkhoo told CBC.
‘Ticket error’
One family has been split forever after a ticket error meant that Ottawa resident Roja Azadian boarded the flight, while her husband Mohsen Ahmadipour stayed at the airport.
He was still in the terminal when he found out about the crash and his wife's death, according to local Canadian newspaper the Ottawa Citizen.
The couple had been visiting family and were due to board the plane together, but when they arrived at the airport Ahmadipour was told his ticket was no longer valid, according to the Ottawa Citizen.
Saharnaz Haghjoo and her eight-year-old daughter Elsa were also killed in the crash. Her father provided a photo of the pair to Global News as they were sat on the plane waiting for it to take off.
According to Global News Haghjoo had a career as television host in Iran before moving to Canada where she worked with refugee women at the YWCA, a Canadian association working with vulnerable women.
