A ticket mix-up left a man stuck at the airport in Iran while his wife boarded the doomed Ukrainian International Airline flight believed to have been shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile system.
When Mohsen Ahmadipour said goodbye to his wife Roja Azadian, he had no idea it would be their last.
The couple had been visiting their families before they prepared to return home to Ottawa, Canada.
But when they arrived at the airport in Tehran, Ahmadipour was told that his ticket was no longer valid, according to the Ottawa Citizen.
The pair had planned to return home together, but instead Ahmadipour told his wife that he would join her in Canada as soon as he could get on another flight home.
Azadian, 43, boarded the flight while Ahmadipour stayed at the airport. The flight took off. And within moments she was gone.
Flight PS752 came down just minutes after leaving the runway at Imam Khomeini International Airport. Fifteen children, including a baby born in 2018, were named among the dead which comprised of 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons.
Ahmadipour learned of the crash from inside the terminal.
‘He was the lucky person who didn’t get on the plane,’ Kevin Manesh, a veterinarian and public relations director of the Iranian Arts and Cultural Society of Ottawa, told the Ottawa Citizen. Manesh explained that Ahmadipour had canceled a portion of his trip, assuming that the flight between Tehran and Toronto was still valid.
The grieving husband’s wife was among the 63 Canadians who lost their lives in the horrific crash.
A ticket mix-up left Mohsen Ahmadipour (right) stuck at the airport in Iran while his wife, Roja Azadian (left), boarded the doomed Ukrainian International Airline flight believed to have been shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile system
When Ahmadipour said goodbye to his wife Roja Azadian, he had no idea it would be their last. The couple (pictured) had been visiting their families before they prepared to return home to Ottawa, Canada
Canadian newlyweds Arash Pourzarabi, 26, and Pouneh Gourji, 25, from Edmonton, had gone to Iran to be married.
The couple were computer science students from the University of Alberta. Four members of their wedding party were also on board.
Of the 63 Canadians who died yesterday when the jet plu nged to the ground in a burst of flames near Tehran, 24 were from Edmonton and at least 13 were residents of British Columbia.
Siavash Ghafouri-Azar and Sara Mamani, of Montreal, were also recently married. According to LinkedIn, Mamani was an engineer at Bombardier and Ghafouri worked as a performance specialist at Pratt and Whitney Canada.
Many of the dead were Canadian-Iranian’s flying back from the winter break.
The University of Guelph in Canada said two PhD students, as well as the partner of one of the students died. Ghanimat Azhdari was a student in the department of geography and Milad Ghasemi was a student in marketing. Azhdari’s partner, Hamed Alibeiki, also died.
Sixty-three Canadians, including two recently married couples, were among the 176 passengers who were killed when a Ukrainian jet crashed in Iran on Wednesday. Canadian newlyweds Arash Pourzarabi, 26, and Pouneh Gourji, 25, (both pictured) from Edmonton, had gone to Iran to be married
Dentist, Parisa Eghbalian (top right), and her nine-year-old daughter, Reera Esmaeilion (center), also died in the crash. Eghbalian co-owned Aurora Dentistry in Ontario with her husband (left), who was not on the plane
The University of Guelph in Canada said two PhD students, as well as the partner of one of the students died. Ghanimat Azhdari (pictured) was a student in the department of geography and Milad Ghasemi was a student in marketing. Azhdari’s partner, Hamed Alibeiki, also died
Husband and wife, Ardalan Ebnoddin Hamidi and Niloufar Razzaghi, were killed along with their teen son, Kamyar Ebnoddin Hamidi (all pictured), while heading home to Vancouver after a holidays
Another family, from Edmonton, Canada, was also wiped out. Pedram Mousavi (left), 47, and his wife Mojan Deneshmand (right), 43, who both work at the University of Alberta, Canada, also died along with their two young daughters Daria, 14, and Darina 10
Western University said four of their students died. Three were current graduate students and one was an incoming graduate student. They did not name the students.
Doctoral candidate, Mari Foroutan, 37, who attended the University of Waterloo in Ontario, died in the crash.
Payman Paseyan, a member of the Iranian-Canadian community in Edmonton, Alberta, said about 27 people from Edmonton, including international students and a family of four that he knew, were on the flight.
A family from Edmonton, Canada, was also wiped out. Pedram Mousavi, 47, and his wife Mojan Deneshmand, 43, who both work at the University of Alberta, Canada, also died along with their two young daughters Daria, 14, and Darina 10.
Paseyan said he often would go to the gym with Mousavi and described him as a nice guy who often visited his former restaurant with his family.
‘I am not aware of any extended family members that they have here. It’s just terrible,’ Paseyan said.
He said most of victims were visiting family in Iran over the holidays. He said many were dual citizens and many were international students.
‘One of the reasons why you take that flight is you wouldn’t want to take a flight that has a connection in the United States because international students can’t do that,’ he said.
Bahareh Haj Esfandiari (right), 41, Mehdi Sadeghi (center), 43, and Anisa Sadeghi (being held by her father), 10, were among the dead
Masoumeh Ghavi (pictured), of Nova Scotia, was studying engineering at Dalhousie University. She and her sister, Mandieh Ghavi, were killed in the crash as they were traveling back to Canada. They were in Iran visiting family for the holidays
Forough Khadem (pictured), who worked in immunology and with CancerCare Manitoba, was also confirmed as one of the victims
Evin Arsalani, 30, her husband, Hiva Molani (both left), 38, and their one-year-old daughter Kurdia (right, with Arsalani) were killed in the crash
Arvin Morattab and Aida Farzaneh (both pictured), of Montreal, were identified by friends as victims from the crash
According to Global News, Masoumeh Ghavi, of Nova Scotia, was studying engineering at Dalhousie University.
She and her sister, Mandieh Ghavi, were killed in the crash as they were traveling back to Canada. They were in Iran visiting family for the holidays.
Husband and wife, Ardalan Ebnoddin Hamidi and Niloufar Razzaghi, were killed along with their teen son, Kamyar Ebnoddin Hamidi, while heading home to Vancouver after a holidays.
A dentistry in Aurora, Ontario confirmed that Parisa Eghbalian, a dentist, and her nine-year-old daughter Reera Esmaeilion died. Eghbalian’s husband, Hamed Esmaeilion, is also a dentist at E&E Dentistry, but was not traveling with his wife and child.
According to Global News, Bahareh Haj Esfandiari, 41, Mehdi Sadeghi, 43, and Anisa Sadeghi, 10, were among the dead.
The Winnipeg family’s deaths were confirmed by Welcome Place, where Esfandiari worked.
‘We are deeply saddened to have learned a recent former employee was on the flight with her husband and daughter travelling back home to Canada after the holidays,’ the company shared in a Facebook post.
Forough Khadem, who worked in immunology and with CancerCare Manitoba, was also confirmed as one of the victims.
Evin Arsalani, 30, her husband, Hiva Molani, 38, and their one-year-old daughter Kurdia were killed in the crash.
They were on their way home to Ontario from Iran where they had attended a wedding in December.
The University of Ontario Institute of Technology announced on Wednesday that Dr Razgar Rahimi, an engineering instructor, at the college, was among the victims killed in the crash.
During a press conference in Ottawa yesterday, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (center), said that Canada expects to play a big part into the Iranian investigation into the flight crash due to the sheer number of Canadian victims
A man weeps during a service at Western University in London, Ontario, on Wednesday. The service was held for the four graduate students who were killed in the Iranian plane crash
A woman weeps during a ceremony to commemorate the four graduate students who were killed when a Ukrainian airliner crashed shortly after take-off from Tehran on Wednesday
In a letter to parents, the principal of Northern Secondary School says the school is grieving the loss of Maya Zibaie, a tenth grade student.
Arvin Morattab and Aida Farzaneh, of Montreal, were identified by friends as victims from the crash.
Pedram Jadidi was a civil engineering student at the University of Windsor. He was traveling back to Canada after visiting family for the holidays.
Hamidreza Setare and Samira Bashiri were living in Windsor. Setare was also an engineer student at the University of Windsor.
University of Windsor student, Zahra Naghibi, was a PhD candidate at the college’s Turbulence and Energy Lab.
Just before the crash the Iranian Revolutionary Guard launched missile strikes on US bases in Iraq.
These strikes were a direct response to President Donald Trump’s assassination of Iranian general Qassam Soleimani with a drone strike in Baghdad on Friday.
Mourners light candles and place flowers outside the Amir Bakery in North Vancouver on Wednesday
Mourners can be seen gathering during a service at Western University in London, Ontario, on Wednesday
A woman mourns outside the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton, Alberta, yesterday. Twenty-four of the Canadian victims hailed from Edmonton
Rescue workers in protective suits gather up the bodies of passengers who were killed in the Boeing 737 crash in Iran
Rescue teams work amidst debris after the Ukrainian plane crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in the Iranian capital Tehran early in the morning on Wednesday
Rescue workers recover the bodies of victims of a Ukrainian plane crash in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, on Wednesday
The Iranian regime has insisted the plane’s engine caught fire causing a loss of control, but has fueled suspicion of foul-play by refusing to hand over the craft’s black boxes.
Video footage appeared to show the plane already burning before it fell out of the night sky, while pictures at the crash site showed the mangled wreckage peppered with mysterious holes.
The Boeing plane was less than four years old and had been checked just two days earlier, with ‘one of our best crews’ manning the aircraft, the Ukrainian airline said.
On Thursday it was revealed that US officials are ‘confident’ that Iran shot down the Boeing 737-800 jet after detecting a radar system being turned on before two missiles were launched, shortly before an explosion believed to have come from the jet.
Two Pentagon officials added that the missiles were likely launched in error by Iranian anti-aircraft crews awaiting a US response to Iran’s rocket strikes against American bases in Iraq, according to Newsweek.
If true, the incident would be hugely embarrassing for Iran which had sought to avoid killing anybody in Wednesday’s strikes, especially since 82 of the plane’s passengers were Iranians.
It could also spark fresh tensions in the Middle East just a day after Trump said Iran seemed to be ‘standing down’.
The jet which crashed was a Boeing 737-800 – a very common single-aisle, twin-engine jetliner used for short to medium-range flights. Thousands of the planes are used by airlines around the world.
The black boxes (pictured) from the Ukrainian airliner were found but Iran says it will not hand them over to Boeing
Pieces of debris are seen lying at the crash site in a picture released by an Iranian news agency today, showing what appeared to be holes in the fuselage of the Boeing aircraft
Introduced in the late 1990s, it is an older model than the Boeing 737 MAX, which has been grounded for nearly 10 months following the two deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
According to flight tracking data from FlightRadar24, the jet reached an altitude of 7,925ft before tracking suddenly ended after three minutes.
The plane had been delayed from taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran by almost an hour.
‘The plane was in working order,’ UIA company president Yevgeniy Dykhne told a briefing in Kyiv where he choked back tears.
‘It was one of our best planes with a wonderful crew.’ It was the Kyiv-based carrier’s first fatal accident.
Just hours before the crash, the US Federal Aviation Administration had banned US airlines from flying over Iran, Iraq and the waters of the Persian Gulf due to the Middle East crisis.