One year since downing of Flight PS752 which killed four Western students

From left, Hadis Hayatdovoudi, Milad Nahavandi, Ghazal Nourian and Sajedeh Saraeian, all Western University students, were killed in a Ukrainian Airlines crash in Iran.

London, Ont — Four Western students were among 176 people killed when a passenger jet was shot down by the Iranian military one year ago.

Dozens of victims had ties to Canada including the four students from Western University.

Ghazal Nourian was a PhD student the Nanophotonic Energy Materials group.

Milad Nahavandi was a PhD student at the Industrial Bioproduct Laboratory.

Hadis Hayatdavoudi was a PhD student at the Electrochemistry and Corrosion Science Centre.

Sajedeh Saraeian was an incoming Masters of Science student in Chemical Engineering.

In addition to the four Western University students, the University of Guelph and the University of Waterloo each lost two PhD students while the University of Windsor said five students/researchers were lost.

Commemorations began Thursday night with a live stream at 9:42 p.m. ET, which was the exact time that Flight PS752 took off from the airport.

Western President Alan Shepherd provided remarks for the international memorial event.

In honour of those who lost their lives the University College flag will fly at half-mast starting until Saturday and the building will be lit up in purple in remembrance.

Moments after the flight took off it was shot down by the Iranian Military, which has blamed human error for the tragedy.

More than 100 of the victims had ties to Canada and at least 55 were Canadian citizens.

A year later and Canadian authorities are still looking for answers from Iran including an explanation as to what caused a member of its Revolutionary Guard to fire on the civilian plane.

Officials leading the investigation say they don’t expect a definitive report from Iran any time soon.

In the meantime, Iran has offered to compensate victim’s families with $150,000 each.

An offer rejected by Ralph Goodale, the former Liberal public safety minister, who said there is a negotiation process to such things which has not begun and that Iran doesn’t the right to offer compensation unilaterally.

“Her name is kept alive”

On Friday Western University announced a new scholarship in honour of one of the victims.

The new scholarship honouring Hadis Hayatdavoudi will support one chemistry student with $3,000 each year.

The scholarship was made possible by a $30,000 donation from Nasim Bagheri, who earned her PhD in chemistry at Western in 1988.

“It is something perhaps that may help her family feel that her name is kept alive and that part of her will remain with all of the students who will receive this scholarship,” said Bagheri.

Western has also established the Flight 752 Memorial Graduate Scholarship in Engineering and Science, in memory of the four Western students.

The first recipient will be announced later this month.