Members of the Queen’s community gathered in the JDUC on Jan. 10 to mourn the loss of those killed on board Ukraine International Flight PS752 last week, including undergraduate Arts and Science student, Amir Moradi.
The Ukrainian plane, which Iran took responsibility for shooting down on Saturday, crashed minutes after taking off from Tehran on Jan. 8, killing 176 people on board. 63 Canadians were among the dead.
As attendants arrived at the vigil on Friday, candles and blue post-it notes were handed out for mourners to write messages of tribute to lives lost in the plane crash. A slideshow of the Canadian passengers played in the background.
Hosted by the Iranian Student Association, there were more than 300 people in attendance, including Moradi’s close family members, friends, and Principal Patrick Deane.
“Remember the last words in the face of the tragedy of the soul. Sometimes the best response seems to be the full silence and reflect on our lives and the dangers that every one of us feels,” Deane said at the vigil.
“This is a travesty beyond that it strikes home and the loss of a member of our own community in an occasion like this, it’s important to reflect on how we’re all connected,” he added. “Every student, every person who died on that plane had aspirations for the future which all of us seek to fulfill by the future and the fulfillment of human lives.”
Counsellors for emotional support were also made available at the event.
“I think it was a really moving gathering of people who loved, and for those who did not know [Amir], we were all touched by the tragedy,” Arunima Khanna, one of the counsellors said.
“I think what we all needed was to come together to share our collective grief and just the senselessness and the horror of what happened.”
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