At least two pairs of newlywed couples died when Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran’s international airport Tuesday, killing all passengers and crew aboard. The Los Angeles Times reports one of the couples, Siavash Ghafouri-Azar and Sara Mamani, had flown to Iran for their wedding. The two met at Concordia University in Montreal, and had recently bought a house together, according to Ghafouri-Azar’s friend and former professor, Ali Dolatabadi. “It’s very heartbreaking. I still can’t believe it,” Dolatabadi told the Times. “I go back to look at his pictures; it’s very difficult.”
“It’s hard to imagine losing someone like him. I really miss him, that’s all I can say,” Dolatabadi added. Another pair of newlyweds, Arash Pourzarabi and Pouneh Gorji, were on their way back to Canada after getting married in Iran on New Year’s Day. The couple moved to Canada together in 2017 to complete their graduate studies at the University of Alberta. “They were super peaceful together,” Borna Ghotbi, a close friend of the couple told the Times. “A really beautiful couple.” Sixty three Canadians were aboard the doomed plane, which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was evidence to support that Iran had shot down, possibly by mistake.
Read it at Los Angeles Times
