TORONTO MAN GRIEVES LOSS OF WIFE AND SON, 3, IN TEHRAN PLANE CRASH
Diana Mehta

Metro News – Halifax
icle/263034–toronto-man-grieves-loss-of-wife-and- son-3-in-tehran-plane-crash
July 16 2009
Canada

TORONTO – Vahik Khachik’s three-year-old son was off to see his
grandmother in Armenia for the first time and his wife was going to
plan a family party when he waved goodbye to them Wednesday at the
airport in Tehran.

But before he even had time to drive home, news that their plane had
crashed came over the radio. The Toronto man is now left mourning the
family he lost with no word on why the Caspian Airlines jetliner came
down just 16 minutes after take-off.

Nana Antashyam, 35, was flying to Armenia with their son Edward so
he could meet the rest of his extended family.

Khachik is devastated by the loss and has spent the last day in an
emotional haze, said long-time family friend Garbe Andishian.

"He is crying for his wife and kid and we’re trying to comfort him,"
Andishian said from the Khachik residence in Tehran. "The family is
in very bad shape."

Relatives from both sides of the family gathered at the home Thursday,
waiting for news on the crash investigation and any word on bodies
found.

The Khachik family left Canada for Iran in early July to baptize
Edward and attend a wedding, said Leonard Rideout, a family friend
and tenant of the Khachik’s in Toronto.

Antashyam was a classical pianist and piano teacher with the Ontario
Conservatory of music, Rideout said.

"She was a very nice lady, a good wife and a good mother, you couldn’t
ask for better."

Antashyam was planning to arrange her sister’s birthday party while
in Armenia, and was dropped off at the airport by her husband and
brother-in-law, said Rideout. Khachik told him by phone that he heard
the tragic news on the car radio after leaving airport, he added.

Andishian described Antashyam as an enthusiastic woman and
well-educated woman.

"She was full of life, always looking forward to life," said Andishian,
whose voice faltered when he spoke about Edward.

"He was an amazing kid, he was very intelligent," he said. "Some
people said he can reach any position in life when he grows up."

Andishian recalls Edward clambering up to a piano and plonking away
at the keys as he tried to imitate his mother.

"Edward was learning, copying sometimes. He was a brilliant kid,"
he said.

"We miss them… It’s hard."

The cause of the crash was not yet known. Investigators have recovered
two of the three black boxes belonging to the jetliner, which was
bound for Yerevan, Armenia.

The chief investigator, Ahmad Majidi, has said the cockpit voice and
flight data recorders would likely be sent to the aircraft’s Russian
manufacturers for analysis.

Most of the passengers were Iranians, many of them from Iran’s large
ethnic Armenian community, as well as 11 members of Iran’s national
youth judo team.

Five Armenian citizens were among the dead and Armenia on Thursday
announced a one-day national state of mourning to mark the death of its
citizens in the crash, according to the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass.

The Tu-154M jet had taken off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International
Airport and crashed about 16 minutes after takeoff, near the city of
Qazvin, around 120 kilometres northwest of Tehran.