Canadian universities are mourning more than a dozen faculty and students who died when Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 flight crashed in Iran on 8 January.

One-hundred seventy-six people were killed when the Boeing 737-800 crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran. At least 63 victims were Canadian, and according to the country's prime minister, Justin Trudeau, 138 people on the flight were connecting to Canada.

“What happened yesterday was a tragedy, a tragedy that shocked not only Canada but the world,” Trudeau said at a news conference on 9 January, calling for a “thorough investigation” into the causes of the crash. “We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. This may well have been unintentional,” he said.

The US government also believes the plane was felled by an Iranian missile strike, according to multiple media reports.

The Iranian government denied such reports. Government spokesman Ali Rabie told US broadcaster National Public Radio that flight data recordings would eventually clarify the cause of the crash. "Everything will become clear that it was just an accident."

Across Canada, universities lowered flags to half staff and planned gatherings to honour the dead. “I want to express my heartfelt grief. Words simply cannot express the loss I know we all are feeling,” David Turpin, president and vice-chancellor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, wrote on 8 January. About 50 people attended a vigil at the Alberta Legislature Building on 8 January, lighting candles and placing photos on the steps, to remember friends and colleagues, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

‘We are all heartbroken’

University of Alberta faculty members Pedram Mousavi and Mojgan Daneshmand — both engineers — and their two young daughters were among those who died. "They were big deals," says James Hogan, a materials engineer at Alberta.

Hogan lost a graduate student, Amir Saeedinia, who was traveling from Iran to begin his PhD in Hogan's lab. "He worked very hard to create this opportunity for himself. This was just a start for him in Canada — he was coming to join the group today."

On 9 January, the university identified seven other community members who were listed as passengers. They include Arash Pourzarabi and Pouneh Gorji, graduate students in computer science who were returning to Canada after their wedding in Iran. Turpin said that university flags would be lowered to half staff to remember the victims, with a memorial service planned for 12 January.

“So so devastated