Profiles of the victims,
On Wednesday, Jan. 8, a jetliner operated by Ukrainian International Airlines crashed shortly after taking off in Iran. All 176 people on board were killed, including 138 people with ties to Canada. As tributes and details emerge about the victims, the Star is sharing what we’ve learned of those who lived in Canada.
Dalhousie student Masoumeh Ghavi and sister Mandieh Ghavi
Masoumeh Ghavi, a master’s student at Dalhousie in IT and communications, and her younger sister Mahdieh, a first-year student, were flying back to Halifax to resume their studies.
Sadra Kord-Jamshidi, president of the Dalhousie Iranian Students Society (DISS), said Masoumeh had just recently come to Halifax.
“I met her last October at an annual general meeting that we held for the DISS. She came here in September. She was the nicest and also a very hardworking individual. Being a self-funded master’s students working two jobs to make ends meet, she also offered the society her help in all of our events,” Kord-Jamshidi told the Star.
A Tehran native, Masoumeh had been working at MTN Irancell and Huawei previously, according to her Facebook profile.
Dalhousie’s Iranian Students Society put out a statement on Wednesday, writing that “we are deeply saddened by the tragic crash of flight #PS752 that was headed from Tehran to Kyiv and took away our beautiful Masoumeh and many other brilliant minds.” The group has organized a vigil, which is taking place on Jan. 11.
Terry Balser, Dalhousie’s provost and vice-president academic, said on Wednesday in a news release that “on behalf of the entire Dalhousie University community, I wish to offer my deepest condolences to all impacted by this tragedy, including those on our campuses and in the broader Iranian community in our region. We are here for you and thinking of you in this difficult time.”
Dalhousie University member Sharieh Faghihi
Dalhousie University released a statement Thursday confirming Dr. Sharieh Faghihi was killed in the crash.
Born in Tehran, Faghihi immigrated to Canada in 2011 with her husband and two children. After graduating from Dalhousie in 2016, she returned to the faculty to teach in the division of periodontology in 2017 and also worked in private practice in Halifax. According to an alumni magazine, she also helped establish a dental centre for disabled children in need in Tehran.
Faghihi was an “absolute joy,” said LJ Turnbull, regional manager for Dentalcorp.
“One of the kindest human beings,” Turnbull said. “She had a fantastic sense of humour and she was great with the patients … She was friends with everybody on the team.”
Another colleague, dentist Ebrahim Kiani, said he first met Faghihi 25 years ago when she was head of the periodontics department at the Shiraz University of Medical Science in Iran.
“She was very kind, very generous with her knowledge and very skilled,” Kiani said. “She was published in many journals … She was a good mentor for me.”
Dawn Collins told the Star she was a patient of hers.
She paid tribute to her “maternal presence” in a Facebook post, saying she made her feel more comfortable in the dentist chair.
“I always felt she was very loving in her work and nurturing,” Dawn Collins said. “Appreciate her.”
Sheyda Shadkhoo, Markham
Shadkhoo, 41, was a chemist who worked as a control substance co-ordinator at SGS Corp. in Markham, Ont., a Swiss company that helps inspect, test and verify that products on the market meet various government standards.
Her husband, Hassan Shadkhoo, said his wife phoned him Wednesday, just before the plane took off, because she was afraid to fly. The conflict between Iran and the United States and the missile attacks had alarmed her.
He said he is gutted that he reassured his wife it would be OK. Twenty minutes after they got off the phone, the plane crashed.
“I wasn’t there,” he said, sobbing. “I should have been there with her.”
The couple was married for 10 years. Sheyda was in Iran to visit her mother.
University of British Columbia fellow Mehran Abtahi, Vancouver
On Wednesday, the University of British Columbia confirmed that Dr. Mehran Abtahi, a post-doctoral research fellow studying civil engineering died in the flight. He was among three UBC alumni, Niloofar Razzaghi, Zeynab Asadi Lari and Mohammad Asadi Lari.
“I wish to once again, on behalf of the university, express my deepest condolences to the families, friends and loved ones of our community members,” Santa J. Ono, university president, wrote in a statement.
Shakiba Feghahati and Rosstin Moghaddam, GTA
Shakiba Feghahati and her son, Rosstin Moghaddam, 10, didn’t make it back home to Nobleton after visiting family in Iran, Feghahati’s husband, Shahin (Shawn) Moghaddam, said.
“Please give them back to me,” Moghaddam pleaded through tears, his voice trembling.
He said Feghahati helped him at their metal fabricating business in Woodbridge and took care of Rosstin.
Rosstin, their only child, was a Grade 4 French immersion student at Beynon Fields Public School in Richmond Hill.
The family moved to Canada seven years ago, according to one of Feghahati’s posts on Instagram.
“We didn’t hear good news from Iran in the last few days. It’s completely broken my heart,” Feghahati wrote in a post in Persian Nov. 19. “Today we witnessed the selfishness of human beings … Our change and revolution can begin here.”
Behnaz Ebrahimi-Khoei, Toronto
Behnaz Ebrahimi-Khoei, a property valuation analyst in Toronto, died in the crash, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union confirmed.
“Behraz was a member and steward with Local 552. She will be dearly missed,” the union wrote in a statement.
According to the union group, she was one exam away from completing her Canadian Residential Appraiser (CRA) designation.
Ebrahimi-Khoei is remembered as a kind-hearted person and a dedicated mother, according to co-workers. Her son, Rahmtin Ahmadi, a Grade 4 student in the Toronto District School Board, was also killed in the crash.
Amihossein Ghorbani Bahabadi, Winnipeg
The University of Manitoba has identified Amirhossein Ghorbani Bahabadi,
a current student with the International College of Manitoba, as one of the victims from the crash in a statement from Wednesday morning.
He is one of five alumni and students from the University of Manitoba to be named.
University of Windsor members Pedram Jadidi and Mohammad Abaspour Ghadi
Two more people with ties to the University of Windsor, Pedram Jadidi and Mohammad Abaspour Ghadi, have been identified as victims from the plane crash.
Jadidi was a doctoral student of civil engineering and Ghadi, the spouse of Zahra Naghibi, who was also a doctoral student of civil engineering at the school. A total of five people have been identified by the school.
“This is a real tragedy for our institution,” said University of Windsor president Robert Gordon. “These were five extraordinary individuals who embodied what our University is all about.”
Shahab Raana and Sahand Hatefi-Mostaghim, Montreal
Two students at the Avrion Technical Institute in Montreal have been identified as victims in the crash. Shahab Raana and Sahand Hatefi-Mostaghim were “not just one, but two of my best and most valuable students,” their teacher Mike Stephens wrote in a Facebook post.
“Shahab and Sahand were incredibly talented, smart, hard working and goal oriented,” Stephens added. “They were both eager to learn as much as they could as well as wanted to.”
A fellow classmate in their welding and fitting class, Dong Wong Lee, from South Korea, became really close friends with Raana and Hatefi-Mostaghim, despite language barriers.
“All of our classmates are really close each other. We shared lots of different things such as culture, language, experience and we enjoy to talk about it a lot,” he told the Star. “Even though it wasn’t a long time, we were all like brothers. We are in a deep sad mood.”
Queen’s University student Amir Moradi
Queen’s University is mourning the loss of a student, Amir Moradi, who died in the plane crash. Moradi was enrolled in the Faculty of Arts and
Science, according to a statement shared by the university.
“Having just received new information, it is with great sadness that I must now convey that one of our undergraduate students has perished in the plane crash tragedy in Iran. That tragedy, which has touched so many of our higher education institutions in Canada, has now affected Queen’s directly,” school principal Patrick Deane said.
Daniel and Dorsa Ghandchi and their mother, Faezeh Falsafi
Daniel, 9, and Dorsa, who would have been 17 this week, were travelling with their mother Faezeh, 46. Their father, Alireza Ghandchi, spoke to the Star from Frankfurt airport, where he’s on route to Tehran for their funerals.
Daniel was a “cute” little boy, he said, and Dorsa was a “super talented” artist, who loved making YouTube videos and playing piano. A photo from her birthday last year shows her beaming next to a cake and black and gold balloons, her little brother smiling mischievously beside her. His wife had studied mechanical engineering in Iran and was close to graduating from an immigration consultant program here in Canada. In the meantime, she was working as a realtor.
“After this life is meaningless for me,” he told the Star. “I don’t know how I can continue.”
What he wants now is just to know what happened to the doomed plane.
“I’m not a political person,” he said, but “it’s our right to know.”
Farzaneh Naderi and 11-year-old son Noojan Sadr, Winnipeg
Farzaneh Naderi and her 11-year-old son, Noojan Sadr, from Winnipeg have been identified as victims. A GoFundMe page has been organized
Sadr’s cousin Negysa Kalar.
“Farzaneh was an amazing mother, wife, aunt, and incredible person. My cousin Noojan was charismatic, caring, and beyond his years. Too young to have lost such a beautiful soul,” the post from the family read.
As of Friday morning, the family has raised more than $7,000 of their $15,000 goal for funeral costs.
Soheila Massoumeh Moshref Ravazi Moghaddam, West Vancouver
Family friend Majid Majid Mahichi has confirmed West Vancouver resident Soheila Massoumeh Moshref Ravazi Moghaddam was aboard the plane.
Mahichi said the mother of three worked as an office manager at a local hotel.
Fereshteh Maleki Dizaje, Ottawa
Fereshteh Maleki Dizaje, a 47-year-old Ottawa architect, was travelling back from Iran after attending the wedding of her only daughter.
Her longtime friend Reza Eslami, who first met her at the architectural school in Tehran, described her as a “brilliant architect” and “amazing friend.”
“She had no problem picking up construction tools and building things with her own hands,” he said. A single mom who had moved to Canada a few years ago, she was looking forward to focusing a bit more on her own life, now that her daughter was married.
“She always had this smile, no matter what state of mind she was in,” Eslami added.
Mohammad Moeini, Sherbrooke, Que.
Mohammad Moeini, a resident of Sherbrooke, Que., has been identified as a victim of the plane crash.
According to his LinkedIn page, Moeini worked as a Mechanical Designer at Bombardier Recreational Products.
Sherbrooke Mayor Steve Lussier shared his condolences in a Facebook post.
Farhad Niknam, Toronto
Dr. Farhad Niknam, a dentist in Toronto, has been identified by the Iranian Ontario Dental Association as a victim of the crash.
In a Facebook post from Wednesday, the organization named Niknam along with two other dentists in Ontario.
“May they rest in peace … I would like to extend my most heartfelt condolences to their families and loved ones,” said Reza Termei, the IODA president.
Niloufar Sadr, Montreal
Niloufar Sadr, a mother, artist, and community member in Montreal’s art scene, was killed in the plane crash, the MEKIC art gallery shared on social media.
Sadr was a “beloved friend” and “helped lots of artists and artisans” when she worked at gallery. “So many memories and its still so hard to believe this tragedy. God bless her soul,” the post read.
The MEKIC gallery represents the Iranian and Middle Eastern artist community.
Afifa Tarbhai and her daughter, Alina Tarbhai, Toronto
Afifa Tarbhai and her daughter, Alina Tarbhai, was also among the victims in the plane crash.
“On behalf of everyone at the City of Markham, we send our deepest condolences to a team member, Muhammad Tarbhai, a Markham aquatic staff member who lost his mother and his sister Alina,” Mayor Frank Scarpitti wrote on Twitter. “This unimaginable tragedy has affected us all.”
Cope Local 343 also shared their condolences in a post over Instagram.
“Our hearts, love and strength is with the family, colleagues, and friends of fellow COPE 343 Sister Alina Tarbhai and her mother Afifa Tarbhai who were victims of the plane crash in Tehran, Iran.”
Shahrzad Hashemi and her daughter, Maya Zibaie
Shahrzad Hashemi and her daughter, Maya Zibaie, were also on the flight. They were returning to Toronto, after a few weeks of vacation in Iran, according to Ramin Moradzadeh, a longtime family friend.
Hashemi’s husband, Mahmoud, had also travelled with them to Iran, but had to come back earlier because of a job prospect he had applied for.
“They were new to Canada,” said Moradzadeh, noting the family of three were living in the city’s west end near Eglinton and Bathurst. Mahmoud rushed back to Iran after the tragedy.
“They are so wonderful, so kind. I just lost a part of my life.”