Who are the victims of Iran plane crash?

A Ukrainian Boeing-737 crashed shortly after take-off in Iran on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board.

The majority of the victims were from Iran and Canada.

In total, 82 Iranians and 63 Canadians were on board the Kyiv-bound flight, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said.

There were also 11 victims from Ukraine, four Afghans, three Britons and three Germans.

Iran’s head of emergency operations said 147 of the victims were Iranian, which suggests many of the foreign nationals held dual nationality.

A list of passengers was released by the airline, but the BBC is awaiting confirmation from people known to the victims.

Airline staff

Nine of the 11 Ukrainian nationals killed were staff at Ukraine International Airlines (UIA).

Valeriia Ovcharuk, 28, and Mariia Mykytiuk, 24, were among the flight attendants who died.

On their social media accounts, which are now being filled with tributes, they frequently shared photographs from their travels.

Valeria posted just two weeks ago from a hotel in Bangkok with the caption: “Work, I love you.”

Ihor Matkov, was flight PS752’s chief attendant. The other three flight attendants were named by the airline as Kateryna Statnik, Yuliia Solohub and Denys Lykhno.

Three pilots were on board at the time of the accident: Captain Volodymyr Gaponenko, First Officer Serhii Khomenko and instructor Oleksiy Naumkin.

All three had between 7,600 and 12,000 hours experience flying a 737 aircraft, according to the airline.

Passengers

The three British victims of the crash have started to be named locally.

They include Sam Zokaei, who worked as an engineer for oil and gas company BP.

In a statement, the company said it was “shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic loss of our friend and colleague”.

A second British engineer, Saeed Tahmasebi, also died. His employers, Laing O’Rourke, described him as a “popular and well respected engineer”.

A number of the passengers killed in the crash were reportedly students and university staff.

This includes Ghanimat Azhdari – a PhD student at the University of Guelph.

She specialised in promoting the rights of indigenous groups and her research group described her as “cherished and loved”.

“A strong activist and advocate for the global indigenous peoples’ movement, this is not only a loss for [us] but also for many communities, organisations and movements worldwide,” it said in a statement.