Six U of T students were passengers aboard Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 leaving out of Tehran, which crashed shortly after take-off. All 176 passengers and crew were killed according to Iranian state media.
According to Global News, Mojtaba Abbasnezhad, a graduate student from U of T, was among the confirmed victims of the crash. Siblings Zeynab and Mohammad Asadi Lari were also among those confirmed to be on the flight by Mississauga News. Zeynab attended UTM and Mohammed was a student at UTSG. Dr. Mohammad Amin Jebelli — a student at the Translational Research Program at U of T’s School of Medicine — was also confirmed to be on the flight.
A university spokesperson has confirmed that two other U of T students were on flight 752: Mohammad Amin Beiruti, a PhD student of the Department of Computer Science, and Mohammad Saleheh, a PhD student and researcher studying computer technology.
“We are continuing to gather information, and taking care to respect the privacy and wishes of all involved,” President Meric Gertler wrote earlier today in a statement expressing the university’s condolences and continued monitoring of the situation.
This story is developing, more to come.
Editor’s Note (January 8, 6:40pm): Article has been updated to reflect new information from a U of T spokesperson.
