Why were so many Canadians on doomed Iran plane?

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Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

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Vigils were held across the country on Wednesday with more planned

Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 crashed shortly after taking off from the Iranian capital Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 passengers and crew members on board.The plane was bound for Kiev and many on board had a connecting flight to Toronto, Canada’s largest city and a transit hub. Of those passengers, 57 were Canadian citizens, Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said on Friday. Earlier, the total was given as 63. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that, all told, 138 people on that flight were en route to Canada. On Thursday, Mr Trudeau said that Canadian officials had “evidence and intelligence” that “indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile”. He noted it may have been in error. The prime minister called for a full and transparent investigation into the cause of the crash for a “complete picture of what happened”. Here is what we currently know about Canada’s response to the plane crash. Will Canada be involved in the investigation?Possibly.Canada’s foreign minister, François-Philippe Champagne said on Thursday that Iran appears open to the request and Canada was moving ahead with seeking visas for their officials. He held a rare call with his Iranian counterpart on Wednesday evening, stressing “the need for Canadian officials to be quickly granted access to Iran to provide consular services, help with identification of the deceased and take part in the investigation of the crash”, according to a statement. Canada has also offered technical assistance for the investigation. The prime minister has said that “Canadians have questions and they deserve answers” about the cause of the crash.An Iranian official told Reuters the US had been formally invited to take part in the investigation, and the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed it had assigned an investigator.

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Media captionTrudeau: “Canadians want answers – I want answers”
In 2012, Canada closed its embassy in Tehran and expelled Iranian diplomats from Ottawa. Canadians in Iran currently go to Italy’s embassy for consular services, and Canadian officials have said a number of allies, including France and Australia, have offered Canada assistance on the ground in Iran.The diplomatic hurdles are likely to hamper the complexities for families seeking to repatriate the remains of their loved ones. Additionally, travel to Iran has become more difficult, with flights to Tehran were cancelled on Thursday and on Friday after Mr Trudeau and other western leaders said an Iranian missile brought down the Ukrainian airliner. Why were there so many Canadians on board?Canada is home to a large Iranian diaspora, with some 210,000 citizens of Iranian descent, according to the latest federal census. The country is also a popular destination for Iranian graduate and postdoctoral students to study and conduct research abroad, which is why many students were on the flight, returning to university following the winter break. There is also no direct flight between Canada and Iran, and the Ukraine International Airlines flight from Tehran to Kiev and then to Toronto is popular because it is one of the most affordable options for the journey. Other victims of the crash included 82 Iranians and 11 Ukrainians, as well as nationals from Sweden, the UK, Afghanistan and Germany.This is not the first air disaster that has touched Canada recently.Last year, 18 Canadians were killed when an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi that crashed in March. What do we know about what happened?There are still many questions to be answered about what happened to flight PS752.

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Media captionWhat do we know about the crash of Ukrainian Flight PS752?
The Boeing 737-800 went down just minutes after taking off from Tehran’s airport on Wednesday, leaving no survivors.An initial probe found the aircraft experienced a problem as it was leaving the airport zone, and was “on fire”.Mr Trudeau said on Thursday that Canada had seen intelligence from both domestic and international sources, suggesting that the passenger plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, perhaps unintentionally. His comments came shortly after media reports that US intelligence officials believe the flight was mistakenly shot down by Iran. Iran has denied that was the case, with the country’s civil aviation chief saying on Friday he was “certain” the plane was not hit by a missile.Ukraine said earlier this week it was examining various possible causes, including an anti-aircraft missile strike, a mid-air collision with a drone or other flying object, engine destruction/explosion due to technical reasons, and an explosion inside the plane as a result of a terror attack. Ukraine’s foreign minister said on Friday that it is still too soon to draw any conclusions on what brought down the passenger plane.”We have so many different versions of what could [have] happened to the plane that we need some time to really understand,” Vadym Prystaiko said.An official with Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation said the plane initially headed west to leave the airport zone, then turned right following a problem and was headed back to the airport at the moment of the crash.He said pilots hadn’t made any distress calls before trying to return to Imam Khomeini airport.Initial findings have been sent to Ukraine and the US, where Boeing has its headquarters, as well as Sweden and Canada.

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Media captionTrudeau: “Canadians want answers – I want answers”
What has been Canada’s response to the missile allegation? For now, Mr Trudeau says the main goal is ensuring a thorough investigation. “It is too soon to be drawing conclusions or assigning blame or responsibility,” he said. “Right now our focus is on supporting the families that are grieving right across the country and providing what answers we can in a preliminary way.” Who were the Canadian victims?They were newlyweds, families, students, professionals and academics.

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Reuters

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Pedram Mousavi and Mojgan Daneshmand with their two daughters

Sixty-three of them were Canadian nationals, but many more called Canada their home, at least temporarily.They lived in cities like Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Edmonton, making this a truly national tragedy. Many were in the 20s and 30s, but a number of young children were also on board. At least two families died: Ardalan Ebnoddin Hamidi, Niloofar Razzaghi and their teenage son Kamyar, from Vancouver; and Pedram Mousavi and Mojgan Daneshmand, and their daughters Daria and Dorina Mousavi, from Edmonton. There were numerous foreign students on board as well, like Ghanimat Azhdari – a PhD student at the University of Guelph, Ontario, who specialised in promoting the rights of indigenous groups. How are they being remembered?Tributes were held across the country on Wednesday night, and many more are planned in the coming days. In Toronto, a public vigil organised by the Iranian Canadian Congress was attended by over 100 people on Thursday. Flags will be lowered at city hall until Monday. Another vigil was hosted on Parliament Hill in the Canadian capital of Ottawa, and attended by the prime minister. On Friday, he is meeting with family members of the victims of the plane crash. Ukraine’s embassy in Canada has invited the public to sign book of condolences. In Edmonton, Alberta, members of the Iranian-Canadian community estimate about 30 people who lived in the city were on flight PS752.

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Media caption”She was full of dreams and now they’re gone”: Vigil held for Iran plane crash victims in Toronto
A memorial for Sunday is being organised by an Iranian heritage group, an Iranian student association, and the University of Alberta, an institution that lost a number of its faculty members and students in the crash. In fact, the deaths have cast a pall over university campuses across the country. Many of the deceased are being remembered as accomplished teachers, students and mentors with bright futures who were studying and working at institutions of higher learning across the country.

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