Guelph to hold vigil for 2 students who died in Iran plane crash
Vigil starts at 7 p.m. at the university's War Memorial Hall
The University of Guelph will be holding a vigil Friday night to honour two students who were aboard the Ukraine International Airlines flight that crashed near Tehran Wednesday.
Milad Ghasemi Ariani was working on a PhD in the department of marketing and consumer studies, while Ghanimat Azhdari was doing research in the college of social and applied human sciences.
All 176 people aboard Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 to Kyiv died.
The vigil is being organized by the university's Iranian Student Association. The vigil will be held at the school's War Memorial Hall at 7 p.m. It will also be streamed on the University of Guelpy YouTube channel.
"We are deeply saddened to hear of the tragic loss of two of our students," said U og G's president Franco Vaccarino in a statement.
"Our thoughts go out to the families of these two students and to anyone else affected by this tragedy. Any loss to our campus community touches all of us."
Several faculty members will speak at the vigil, including Faisal Moola and Tirtha Dhar, PhD advisers who worked with Ariani and Azhdari.
The university has lowered its flags to half-mast in honour of Azhdari and Ariani.