Montreal vigils honour memory of Iran plane crash victims

Montrealersgathered at two different vigils Thursday evening tohonour those who died when a Ukrainian International Airlines passenger jet crashed in Iran on Wednesday.

Saman Abolfathi, the vice-presidentexternal of Concordia'sIranian student association, said many people wantedto pay their respects to the victims,whose lives were cut short in such a horrific way.

"Most of the people that I've talked with, they were like, they couldn't hold [backtheir tears]. I don't know most of them, and as I [spoke] with them, they were crying," saidAbolfathi, one of the organizers of a vigil at the university.

U.S. officials have shared intelligence with Canada that the plane was shot down by an Iranian missile, sources have toldCBC News.

All 176 people on board, including 57 Canadians (revised from 63), died in the crash of the Boeing 737-800. Most people on board, 138 passengers, were bound for Canada.

At least sevenpeoplehad beenliving in the Montreal area.An eighthlived in Valcourt, Que., and two others had lived in Montreal until recentlybefore moving to Toronto.

The vigil startedat 5:30 p.m. outside Concordia University's GM building on De Maisonneuve Boulevard. Another event washeld atcole de technologie suprieureonNotre-Dame Street.

Similar events were held across the country to honour the victims Wednesday night.

'So hard and so unbelievable'

Abolfathi, who is one of more than 1,500 Iranian students at Concordia, said the fact that so many of the dead were also studentsor people who had goneto university in Canadameans he understands so much about their journeys.

"It hits harder because of that," he said."We know they tried so hard to go to university in Iran; they transferred themselves here.They finished their university here."

"And after all, it was all for nothing. I don't want to be pessimistic, but this makes it so hard and so unbelievable for us."

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Siavash Ghafouri-Azar and Sara Mamani were both engineers who studied at Concordia.

McGill law Prof. Payam Akhavan, an Iranian-Canadian,said it is particularly tragic that so many of the victims are part of a generation that has suffered so much in Iran a country that, despite its tremendous wealth and resources, is going through an economic decline.

"These are just young people looking for a better life, coming here, studying hard, buying homes, trying to raise families. And it's heartbreaking to see all of those dreams shattered in an instant."

He said there is a collective sense of loss in the community, and that many people, himself included, are still trying to process what happened.