Tehran tragedy shakes close-knit Iranian Canadian community in Vancouver
B.C.’s Iranian community was plunged into grief Wednesday after at least 13 people from this province with ties to Iran were among the 176 people killed when an airliner crashed into a field in Iran.
“For the close families it is much more difficult,” he said. “For the community members it is not acceptable, it is not a nice thing.” More than a third were 30 or younger, according to the airline’s passenger list. Many were students returning from winter breaks.“Our hearts and thoughts are with the families and friends of loved ones lost and the greater Iranian-Canadian community in B.C. that enriches life in our province,” Premier John Horgan said in a statement.
Many at the vigil wept openly and lit candles. Friends brought a ladder and hung a sign outside the bakery offering their condolences to Amir for the loss of his family.“She was really hard working and she really tried hard to build this bakery with her family. She was a really nice person and always welcome to us as clients. She took time to talk to us and ask for our feedback about the bread,” she said.“We have to support the family.
Others from Metro Vancouver who were killed included Firouzeh Madani and Naser Pourshabanoshibi, a couple who were both doctors working to get their getting medical credentials; engineer Daniel Saket and dental hygienist Fatemah Kazeranim, a couple from of North Vancouver; a Port Coquitlam family, Ardalan Ebnoddin-Hamidi, his wife Niloofar Razzaghi, and their teenage son Kamyar, and; Langara student Delaram Dadashnejad. University of Victoria student Roja Omidbakhsh is also among the deceased.
The family was passionate about encouraging other Iranian Canadians to engage in the political and democratic process at the municipal, provincial and federal levels in Canada, Esmaeilpour said. Ebnoddin-Hamidi worked on SkyTrain’s Evergreen Line extension into Coquitlam, Stewart said, and, “he put a lot of his heart and soul into the Evergreen Line, and many other pieces of infrastructure and many other buildings in Metro Vancouver.”
“This is devastation,” longtime family friend Alex Ghasemi said outside the home. “We don’t want to believe it.” Their son was a bright young man who loved soccer, said Ghasemi, whose daughter was in Kamyar’s Grade 10 class at Riverside Secondary School in PoCo.“Oh God, I can’t believe it,” he said through tears. “He’s supposed to be home now. And he’s gone. He’s gone. Kamyar is not going to come back.B.C. student Delaram Dadashnejad has been named as one of the victims in Wednesday’s plane crash in Tehran.
According to Langara’s student paper, The Voice, Dadashnejad graduated from the school’s English for Academic Purposes program, also known as LEAP, and was taking university transfer classes. According to a family friend, Saket and Kazerani were aboard doomed Flight PS752 that crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran airport on Tuesday on the way to Toronto. All 176 people in the plane died, including at least a dozen from B.C.Taheri said Saket was a mechanical engineer with Denna Homes and that Kazerani was a dental hygienist — the married couple were both in their early 30s.
In a statement released by Denna Homes, the couple were described as having “a zest for life that lit up every room they entered. They will be sadly missed by our Denna Homes family.” “I’m jealous of their family, they’re so close,” said Shahnaz Oleh, a friend who described Pourghaderi and her husband as a hard-working and kind couple who supported each other both in life and business.
Pourghaderi, 36, had been looking forward to the vacation with her daughter. She was always busy — she rarely stopped moving. However, she was also social and made time for her many close friends, who described her as quiet, polite and a very good listener. She loved to go on picnics with her family and friends.
In an archived blog post on the New To B.C. website, Madani was interviewed about her experience working to transfer her medical skills and qualifications to Canada. The blog post also spoke about Madani’s support from MOSAIC and Back in Motion — Skills Connect in order to secure work after immigrating.
“The North Vancouver City Library is heartbroken over the loss of members of our community in this tragic accident,” Chief Librarian Deb Hutchison Koep said in a statement. “We are especially saddened to hear that Firouzeh Madani, who volunteered as a Library Champion with our library through NewToBC, was among those lost. Our sincerest condolences go to Firouzeh’s family and friends.”
Majid Mahichi, who runs Persian television studio Parvaz TV, is a childhood friend of Pourshabanoshibi who reconnected with him after the latter immigrated in 2013. Asadi Lari graduated from UBC in 2018 with a BSc in cellular, anatomical and physiological sciences with honours, and was enrolled in the medical faculty at the University of Toronto at the time of his death.
Asadi Lari’s sister Zeynab reportedly enrolled at UBC in 2016 in the BSc program with a biology major, and according to her LinkedIn profile she had recently transferred to U of T, was a mentor to other students in the Coordinated Sciences Program, and frequently travelled to Tehran for research.
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