Riverside secondary is a somber and silent place of mourning while staff and students feel the effects the death of a student in the Tehran plane crash, says the principal of the Port Coquitlam high school.
Jon Bruneau said many are still coming to grips with the news that Kamyar Ebnoddin-Hamidi, a 15-year-old French Immersion student and soccer player, was among the 176 victims of the Ukrainian Airlines flight that crashed shortly after takeoff from Iran's Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport.
Bruneau said although privacy rules and the fact that the Canadian government hasn鈥檛 officially identified the victims of Flight 752 restrict him from naming the student, he said the school population is well aware of the tragic death of their peer, who, he said 鈥渨as a wonderful guy.鈥�
Many students are wearing red to honour Kamyar because it was his favourite colour, Bruneau said, and counsellors and a youth worker are available for those staff and students who need someone to talk to about their grief.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really gut-wrenching,鈥� Bruneau said, noting that even 24 hours after Kamyar was named as a victim, along with his dad, Ardalan Ebnoddin-Hamidi, and his mother, Niloofar Razzaghi, the school is still a 鈥渧ery, sensitive, quiet and sombre building.鈥�
Thursday is field-trip day for students and Bruneau said he expected Kamyar would've been looking forward to going on an expedition with his peers after his two-week vacation in Iran.
Meanwhile, School District 43 is offering condolences to friends and family who knew the victims.
Board chair Kerri Palmer-Isaak said, 鈥淭he board wants the community to know we are incredibly empathetic towards the family and friends, and express our condolences.鈥�
The Port Coquitlam teen and his family were well known in the community and the ripple effects of this tragedy are continuing to expand, Palmer-Isaak said, as people come to understand what has happened.
In addition to supports provided directly to Riverside students, counselling will be made available to anyone in the school district who needs it, including the district鈥檚 120 international students from Iran.
Some of the Iranian students likely arrived in Canada via the same interconnecting flight from Tehran to Kiev and may be struggling with the details.
Palmer-Isaak said she wouldn鈥檛 speculate on how the Iranian international students were feeling but said they also have access to counselling in their own language.
鈥淲e really look at this a blanket or wraparound support," she said. ". Some will be more in need than others, just like our regular student population. My hope would be their homestay family and their teachers and their friends and their community would rally around them and would offer them comfort and support.鈥�
Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a press conference that multiple sources indicate an unintentionally fired Iranian missile may have brought down the plane.
The crash took place against the backdrop of international tensions between, including retaliatory missile attacks by Iran to avenge the death of top general Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by a U.S. drone strike.
