University of Victoria student Roja Omidbakhsh was one of 176 people killed one year ago when Iran’s Revolutionary Guard shot down a passenger jet after it took off from Tehran.
She was a first-year commerce student at the university “with a bright future ahead,” said UVic president Kevin Hall in a statement to mark the one-year anniversary of the crash. “Our university was deeply shocked by this incident and the terrible toll it has taken,” he said.
In partnership with the UVic Iranian Student Association, the university has established two annual scholarships for outstanding Iranian students to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the crash on Jan. 8, 2020.
The university contributed $25,000 toward the association’s fundraising efforts for the scholarships. The goal is to provide the Iranian Student Memorial scholarships annually to an Iranian or Iranian-Canadian undergraduate and graduate student studying at UVic.
All 176 people onboard Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752, including 138 with connections to Canada and at least 15 to B.C., were killed when their plane was shot down.
Iranian leaders initially tried to cover up their role, but eventually admitted to their actions, calling the crash a “great tragedy and unforgivable mistake.” Four days earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a military drone to attack Iran’s Gen. Qassem Soleimani near Baghdad airport.
International officials are still trying to piece together why the plane was shot down.
Naji Yazdi, board member of the Victoria Iranian-Persian Cultural Society, said it’s hard to put his feelings about the tragedy into words.
“No one can speak to the depths of this sorrow and sadness, and how many dreams were buried,” he said.
Yazdi has watched the videos that some of those killed posted to social media before the flight, sharing their excitement about travelling to Canada, something he can relate to.
“You cannot imagine as a Canadian-born person how hard it is and what a long process it is to get a visa to go to Canada,” Yazdi said. “They were so excited.”
He said Iranians are grateful for the Canadian government’s effort to hold Iran accountable and push for answers.
“If it were not for Canada, it would have been forgotten. It would have been just hidden or buried under the carpet.”
One week before the crash, Yazdi said, he had returned to Victoria on a flight out of Tehran. It was his first time in Iran in seven years. “I could easily [have been] on that plane.”
The cultural association did not hold an event Friday to mark the anniversary, but conversations are underway for a future event, he said.
— With a file from the Canadian Press
