N.S. Iranian community plans memorials as Trudeau says missile brought down plane

Memorial serviceswill be held Thursday and Saturdayin the Halifax areato honour the victims of a plane crash in Iran Wednesday morning.

The Al Rasoul Islamic Society said a servicewill take place this evening at 1247 Bedford Highway from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

"All community members and friends are respectfully requested to attend," the society said in a Facebook post on Wednesday evening.

A Halifax dentist and graduate students from Dalhousie University and Saint Mary's University were among those killed when the Ukraine International Airlines plane, carrying 176 people, crashed minutes after takeoff from Tehran's main airport.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed that Canada has intelligence from multiple sources that indicatesthe plane wasshot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. The missile hit mayhave been unintentional,Trudeau told a news conference.

Everyone on Flight PS752 an American-made Boeing 737-800 was killed, including 63 Canadian citizens. There were another 75 passengers, mostly Iranians living or studying abroad, who were travelling to Canada via Ukraine.

There are no direct flights between Canada and Iran, which means passengers have to use connecting flights. The route through Ukraine was one of the most affordable options.

A service was also being planned for Saturday at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Dalhousie University student Masoumeh Ghavi, who many knew as Masi, was travelling back to Canada with her younger sister, Mahdieh Ghavi, 20, who was to study in Halifax.

ZhilaRussell, president of the DalhousieIranian Students Society, said the school's close-knit Iranian communitywas shocked to learn the news on Wednesday.

Heavy snowfall shut down the campus on Wednesday, meaning many students haven't been able to comfort each other in person.

"Not being able to hug each other yesterday was really hard," she said. "It touched us very, very, very closely."

Saint Mary's University confirmed Wednesday that Maryam Malek and Fatemeh Mahmoodi, listed as passengers, were both enrolled in the school's masterof finance program.

In a statement, Robert Summerby-Murray, the school's president and vice-chancellor, said Saint Mary's University will hold a gathering of remembrance on Friday at 3 p.m. in the Loyola Conference Hall.

"Their loss will be felt keenly by many in our university, in Halifax and across the global community," he said.

Sharieh Faghihi, a dentist who has worked in Halifax for several years, was also on the plane. She'd been visiting her mother in Iran with her daughter, who returned to Halifax a few days ago.

At least one other family on the plane had ties to Halifax.Shekoufeh Choupannejad, a medical doctor whohad an obstetrics and gynecology practice in Edmonton, was killed in the crash along with her two daughters, Sara and Saba Saadat.

According toChoupannejad's LinkedIn profile, she worked in Halifax from 2011 to 2014. Both of her daughters had studied at the University of Alberta.

Mount Saint Vincent University said Thursday that none of its students, faculty or staff were on the flight.

Passengers heading to Canadahailed from British Columbia, Quebec, Manitoba, Ontario and Alberta, with many studying or teaching at universities across the country. At least 30 of them are believed to be from Edmonton, many with ties to the University of Alberta.

Russell said the popularity of that route to Iran via Ukraine has left many Iranians in Nova Scotiafeeling that one of them could have easily been on that flight.

"Every friend of mine goes back-and-forth [to] home, they go visit family, they go bring family members, they go marry and come back," she said.

"Everybody that I've spoken to yesterday, they're all feeling the same thing: That they don't feel it was someone else on that plane. Every one of us sits on those chairs constantly."

Russell said the public has a right to know what happened to the plane.

"Finding out what exactly happened is the least we can do," she said. "I don't want to live with the doubt. I want to know what happened."