176 people were killed on flight bound for Kyiv, including 63 Canadians
Three University of Ottawa students are among the 176 people killed in a plane crash near Tehran, Iran on Tuesday.
In a statement on Thursday evening, the university identified the three students who died on board Flight PS752, a Ukrainian International Airlines plane that crashed just minutes after taking off.
They are Mehraban Badiei Ardestani, an undergraduate health sciences student, Alma Oladi, a graduate student who was completing a PhD in mathematics, and Saeed Kadkhodazadeh Kashani, a graduate student who was completing a PhD in chemistry.
In total, 63 Canadians were killed on the flight that was bound for Kyiv, Ukraine.
“Our international students are a vital part of the U of O community and it is with heavy hearts that we mourn their loss,” said university president Jacques Frémont in the statement. “We would like to express our sincerest condolences to their loved ones, to those who worked with them on campus, and to the broader Iranian community. We are heartbroken and they will be dearly missed.”
The university, the Iranian Student Association of the U of O, and the Nowruz Student Association are hosting a non-religious memorial ceremony to honour the three victims on Friday from 4-6 p.m. at the Agora in the University Centre.
Books of condolences and counselling services will be available at the ceremony, while the U of O flag has been lowered to half-mast on the main campus.
More to come.
Editor’s Note (Jan. 9 6:30 p.m.): Updated to include the names of the three victims from the U of O, a statement from president Jacques Frémont, and information on Friday’s memorial ceremony.
