Candlelit vigil in North Vancouver honours Iranian plane crash victims

Mourners gathered around a bakery in the heart of North Vancouver's close-knit Persian community to pay respects to the victims of the Ukrainian International Airlines crash Wednesday night.

The owner of Amir Bakery, Amir Pasavand, lost both his wifeAyeshe Pourghaderi, 36, and his 17-year-old daughterFatemah Pasavandafter the Kyiv-boundflightcrashed shortly after take-off fromIran's capital Tehran. He had not accompanied them on their vacation.

All 176 people on board died in the crash. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said138passengers from the flight were supposed to be on a connecting flight to Toronto. Sixty-threewere Canadian citizens.

At least 13 people on board the flight had ties to British Columbia.

The Ukrainian International Airlinesroute Tehran to Kyivand then on to Toronto is a popular one for Iranian Canadians due to the limited number of airlines that fly to Iran.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

Shahnaz Oleh, a family friend in attendance at the vigil, describedPourghaderias lovely, kind and a hard worker who loved her daughter deeply.

"She was always with her daughter. She [was] never separate," Oleh said through tears.

Pasavand was a high school student who was excited about her upcoming 18th birthday and high school graduation, she said.

Oleh was one of about onehundred mournersgrievingat the Lonsdale Avenue bakery. Those in attendancelit candles, placed flowers underneath the bakery windowandraised a banner expressing their condolences for the loss.

Pegah Jahanbin, one of the attendees, said her family often bought bread from the bakery.

"It's really heartbreaking to hear this news," she said.

Mourning in B.C. after deadly Iran plane crash

5 years ago

Duration 2:08

Families reeling after deadly Ukrainian airliner crash.

Jahanbin, a member of North Vancouver's Persian community,said she had come to Canada for a better life, just like the Pasavand family.

"When something like this happensit's not tolerable.It's so hard."