WINNIPEG -- The University of Manitoba’s Iranian Students’ Association is holding a virtual memorial on Friday evening to mark one year since the crash of Flight PS752 in Tehran, which killed five members of the university.

On Jan. 8, 2020, the passenger jet was shot down by the Iranian military, killing all 176 people on board.

Five of those who died had ties to the U of M, including S. Pedram Moosavi BaFrooei; Mojgan Daneshmand; Forough Khadem; Amirhossein Ghassemi; and Amirhossein Ghorbani Bahabadi.

“We collectively mourn all passengers from Canada and around the world and remember the pain of their families, friends, neighbours, classmates and colleagues,” said Michael Benarroch, president and vice-chancellor of the U of M, in a news release.

“Even in our own UM community, the impact of the loss is immense – brilliant and enthusiastic alumni, students, researchers who had already contributed so much and were on the cusp of doing so much more. We lost their inspiring minds and their warm hearts. But thanks to the efforts of so many, their legacies live on.”

A fellowship has been established as an endowment fund at the U of M to honour the legacy of the crash victims in Manitoba. An endowed scholarship was also established in Khadem’s name in support of international female graduate students in the biomedical sciences.

The virtual memorial will take place at 6 p.m. over Zoom. More details can be found online.