'I still don't believe that it happened': Family, friends mourn Iran plane crash victims

On Wednesday morning, Richmond Hill, Ont., residentHamed Esmaeilion called the Adrienne Clarkson Public School to explain why his nine-year-olddaughter Reera would not be in class.

"I usually call when she's absent, usually she's not. I told them thatReera will be absent forever," says Esmaeilion, overcome with emotion.

Esmaeilion's daughterand his wifeParisa Eghbalianwere among the63 Canadianpassengers on the Ukraine International Airlines flight that crashed inIran. All 176 peopleon board were killed, including many students of Canadian universities.

The last conversation Esmaeilionhadwithhis family, who were in Iran to attend his sister-in-law's wedding, had been aday earlier, as he prepared to go to work.

"Ihad a new haircut, Ididn't want to show to them.I stayedin the dark and they couldn'tsee me. So I said 'Are you ready? Are youcoming?' And they said, 'Yeah, in three hours we goto the airport.'"

He had been concerned about their flight because of the political tensions in the region, had been checking repeatedly if the plane had departed,and felt some relief when it seemed ithadtaken off safely. Buthours later, he learned on the BBC website that the plane had crashed, and there were no survivors.

WATCH:'I still don't believe that it happened'

'I still don't believe that it happened'

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Husband grieves wife and daughter killed in Iran crash.

"The first thing that comes to your mind is that you don't believe that. I still don't believe that it happened," he said.

He is heading to Iran to identify his family'sremains, although initially, he had wanted theirbodiesreturned to Canada.

"Then Isaid no. My mom and my mother-in-law,they have rights too. So Ihave to go back and share thegrief."

Esmaeilion and his wife shared a dental practice in Aurora and had met inuniversity in Iran before arriving inCanada in 2010 when Reerawas just six months old.

He described his wife as a "wonderful woman,"a perfectionist whom he would learn from every day, and a role model for their daughter.

As for Reera, "she was amazing the best ever,"talented in sports, particularlysoccer, andspoke three languages:English, French and Farsi.

VIDEO:'My heart is broken': Windsor family mourns loss of couple killed in plane crash in Iran

"Ihad to force her to play pianoevery day. 'Reera, youhave to play30 minutes,' he would say to her.'No dad, it's 25 minutes,' she would respond, because he had Googled that nine-year-olds are supposed to practise for 25 minutes.

"Very hardto recall all those memories," he said.

Ghanimat Azhdari

For University of Guelphassociate professor Faisal Moola, his plan onWednesdaywas to pick up his PhD studentGhanimat Azhdarifrom Pearson International Airport in Toronto andhead back to school, where they would prepare for their trip to Newfoundland and Labradorin a couple weeks.

Azhdari, who was working toward her PhD in social and applied human sciences,was an expert inparticipatory mapping spendingtime with Indigenous peoples,collecting their and traditional knowledge about their territories. The two were tobegin a project with Indigenous peoples in Atlantic Canada.

Instead, on Wednesday, Moolawas devastated to learnthat Azhdari had been on the doomed flight.

Azhdari herself was a member of the Qashqau tribe in Iran, and had donea lot of work in the countryadvancing the rights of Indigenous peoples. Just a day earlier, she had sharedpictures with Moola, from her home in Iran,photographs offorests,trees and rivers and all sorts of examples of the nature of her traditional territory.

"I've got beautiful photographs that she just sent me of her sitting,drinking tea with the elders and the women and other community members."

She had travelled back to Iran tovisither family, including her fianc, whom she hoped to bring back to Canada. Before Iran, she had been in Montreal,where she was representing Indigenous peoples in the negotiations there fora new global treaty onthe conservation of nature.

She was also amember of theICCA Consortium which promotes the recognitionof and support to Indigenouspeoples.

"We are in utter disbelief and heartbroken at the sudden loss of such a beautiful young life a true force of nature, and one of the ICCA Consortium's most cherished flowers,"the organizationsaid in a statement.

That statement, said Moola, was areflection of Azhdari's significant contribution to international policy around the protection of nature and the enormous loss for Indigenous people around the world.

Moola described his studentas a "firecracker" whohad the ability to command people's attention through avery strong personal narrative.

Among herremarkable qualities, was her real clarity of purpose in life, he said.

"She really understood that with the PhD, she would then have the credibility and the influence that she deserves in terms of impacting these global negotiations."

Parinaz and Iman Ghaderpanah

Torontonian Hosein Ammoshahi woke up around 3 a.m. ET on Wednesdayand happened tocheck his phone. He said he realized the list of passengerson the plane was out and something told him to check the names.

The list was sorted alphabetically, and he could see his friends'names together, meaning there was very little chance he was making a mistake.And when he looked at the birthdates, he was 100 per cent sure it was them.

"And I couldn't believemy eyes when Isaw Iman and Parinaz'snames together on the list. And Icouldn'tsleep since then," Ammoshahisaid.

"I've been crying every hour or so."

He described themarried couple from Torontoas very energetic, "a lovely couple" who had come to the country about a decade ago.

They were active members of the Iranian-Canadian community, volunteers with the non-profit Iranian-Canadian group Tirgan and helped fundraise for the organization,Tirgan spokesperson MehrdadAriannejad said.

Ariannejadhad worked directly with Parinaz and called her"energetic, positive, warm and very dedicated. She and her husband were deeply in love and both were very active in community affairs."

She worked at the Royal Bank of Canada while Imanwas self-employedand workedin the mortgage industry, Ariannejad said.

"Everybody loved them, everybody is mourning,"Ammoshahisaid.

"I can't think of any otherevent at this scale that has touched so many people," he said."I go on my Facebook and Instagram and almost every friend I know here has lost a friend or a familymember."