A San Diego college student, along with her sister and mother, were three of the victims who sadly died inthe Ukranian plane crashthis week.
Sara Saadat was traveling back to the U.S. to resume classes at Alliant International University in Scripps Ranch, California when theBoeing 737 jet went down in Iranon Wednesday.
Sara, who graduated from the University of Alberta in 2019 and was currently working toward her doctorate, was killed alongside her sister Saba Saadat and their mother Shekoufeh, according to CBS/CW affiliateKFMB.
The San Diego university confirmed Sara’s death ina statement on Facebook, noting that Sara was returning from a trip to visit family in Iran when the tragedy struck.
“It appears that Sara was visiting family in Iran and was on her way back to San Diego to begin our spring 2020 term in our PsyD in Clinical Psychology program,” the school wrote. “We know that the entire Alliant community is affected when tragedy strikes any one of us, and we are here to provide support during these trying times.”
“We will have on-site critical support counselors available for students in San Diego when spring classes resume next week and will be reaching out soon regarding additional support for the broader Alliant community,” they added.
Saba and Sara Saadat.Courtesy Saadat Family
The University of Alberta alsoreleased a letter on behalf of college presidentDavid H. Turpin, revealing that Saba and Sara were two of the 10 people from their campus community who lost their lives in the crash.
Saba was currently enrolled at the school working toward her Bachelor of Science in the Department of Biological Sciences, the university confirmed.
Along with the sisters, Turpin said electrical engineering professor Mojgan Daneshmand and mechanical engineering professor Pedram Mousavi; students Pouneh Gorji, Elnaz Nabiyi, Arash Pourzarabi, Nasim Rahmanifar, Saba Saadat, Amir Saeedinia; and alumnus Mohammad Mahdi Elyasi all died in the crash.
“As I have seen personally in visits across campus, these individuals were integral to the intellectual and social fabric of our university and the broader community,” he wrote. “In the coming days, we will be sharing and celebrating each person’s unique contributions to their academic fields and to the many communities they touched.”
“We will feel their loss — and the aftermath of this tragedy — for many years to come,” Turpin added.
Sara Saadat.Facebook
Saba Saadat.twitter
In his letter, the president announced that a public memorial in collaboration with the Iranian-Canadian community and the city of Edmonton would be held on Sunday, and a dedicated support center was available for students, faculty, and staff all day on Friday.
“This tragedy has also been felt deeply in our city and in the local Iranian-Canadian community,” Turpin wrote. “I know that our community is reeling from this loss, and I encourage you to reach out and seek any support needed during this time.”
“On behalf of the University of Alberta, I want to extend our heartfelt condolences, thoughts, and sympathy to our colleagues across Canada,” he finished. “So many Canadian universities have also lost students, faculty, staff, and alumni in this tragedy, and we share in their sorrow.”
Mohammad Mahdi Elyasi.Linked In
Nasim Rahmanifar.Linked In
The Saadats weren’t the only family members who died together in the crash.
Reera Esmaeilion, age 9, and her mother Parisa Eghbalian also perished, according toNBC News, as well as Nova Scotian sisters Masoumeh “Masi” and Mandieh Ghavi.
“I used to be ‘Hamed Esmaeilion.’ Now, at the airports of the world, I introduce myself in this way, ‘My wife and daughter were on that plane,'” hewrote in a heartbreaking post, adding thathe didn’t know how to be strongamid the tragedy.
A second post on Thursdayfeaturing a photo of Reera said, “She said ‘I don’t want to go to Harvard. I want to go to Hogwarts.’ Why did I have to call her school yesterday and said Ray is not coming again?”
Reera Esmaeilion and Parisa Eghbalian.Facebook
Reera Esmaeilion.Facebook
Dalhousie University, the college that Masi was currently attending and working toward her masters in engineering at, confirmed her and her sister’s deathsin a statement on their website.
“Masi was a master’s student in Internetworking in the Faculty of Engineering, who moved to Nova Scotia from Iran last summer. She also working locally with a Bedford-based I.T. company. She was traveling with her younger sister, Mandieh, who was coming to Halifax to begin studies of her own,” the college wrote.
Sadly, the university also revealed that one of its employees, Sharieh Faghihi, passed away.
The college said that Faghihi obtained her DDS from Tehran University and a master’s in periodontology and later immigrated to Canada in 2011 with her husband and two children.
“After graduating from Dal in 2016, she returned to the Faculty to teach in the Division of Periodontology in 2017 and also worked in private practice in Halifax,” the school wrote. “She loved Nova Scotia and her colleagues at Dal and described dentistry as ‘my career of passion all my life.'”
Mandieh Ghavi and Masoumeh Ghavi.Facebook
Newlywed couple Arash Pourzarabi and Pouneh Gorji and University of Toronto Ph.D. student Mojtaba Abbasnezhad were three other victims whose lives were sadly claimed in the tragedy.
Pourzarabi, 26, and Gorji, 25, who had recently tied the knot after graduating from the University of Alberta, were reportedly flying home to Canada following their wedding, according to NBC News.
On Thursday, Russ Greiner Lab, the place where Gorji worked, issued a statement on their Facebook page and confirmed the young couple’s death.
Along with the statement, the lab posted several photos from what appeared to be a memorial service for the pair.
Eerily enough, Abbasnezhad, 27, joked about potentially not surviving his flight on Twitter just one day before the crash, likely due to the growing tensions between Iran and the U.S.
“I had predicted war at the time of my flight. Man, whatever experiences you have had with me, good or bad, have good thoughts about me,” the doctoral studenttweeted.
Officials are continuing to investigate what caused the Ukraine-bound plane to crash in Iran, killing all 167 passengers and nine crew members who were on board.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaikoconfirmed in a tweet on Wednesday that82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans, and three British nationals died in the crash.
The flight left the Tehran International Airport around 6:00 a.m. local time, the airline confirmed to PEOPLE on Wednesday.
ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeausaid during a press conferencethat once the plane was landed in Kyiv, Ukraine, more than 130 passengers were expected to change planes and head to Canada.
The crash came hours after Iranlaunched missiles at two military basesin Iraq that house U.S. troops, which prompted investigators to look into the possibility of a terrorist act, as well as if a missile shot down the jet, a collision occurred with another airborne object, or if an engine exploded — all theories that have been deemed preliminary.
According to Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization chief Ali Abedzadeh, the plane — which went down shortly after takeoff — was “on fire” and crashed while it was attempting to return to the airport,BBCreported. Abedzadeh added that the pilots had not made any distress calls before heading back to the airport.
Ukraine International Airlines, which operated the flight,told PEOPLEon Wednesday: “[An] investigation will be conducted with the involvement of the aviation authorities of Ukraine, Iran, representatives of the Boeing manufacturer, the airline, and the National Bureau of Air Accidents Investigation of Ukraine. The airline will inform about the progress of the investigation and the causes of the tragic event as soon as they are identified.”
source: people.com
