SIBLINGS’ LAST-MINUTE SWITCH WAS FATAL

The Australian
July 21 2009

Ehssan Veiszadeh
July 21, 2009

POST-GRADUATE medical student Arin Apcarian and his sister Ani planned
to travel to their Armenian homeland by bus, but changed minds at
the last-minute on the advice of his doctor.

Friends said yesterday the young PhD student had been recovering
from eye surgery and his doctor urged him not to risk infection on
the dusty road to the Armenian capital, Yerevan.

Instead, the Australian siblings boarded Caspian Airlines Flight 7908,
which crashed last Wednesday shortly after takeoff, killing all 168
people on board.

The 20-something pair from Quakers Hill in Sydney’s northwest had
travelled to Tehran for a holiday prior to realising a long-held
dream of returning to their ancestral homeland.

"Arin always dreamt of seeing his homeland, and that really breaks
my heart," friend Ehsan Razavi said yesterday.

Arin and Ani, born in Iran of Armenian origin, moved to Australia
nearly 10 years ago.

Arin, the elder sibling, was a medical student at Westmead Hospital
while Ani was studying childcare and was a school volunteer.

Mr Razavi met Arin six months after the Apcarians moved to
Australia. "I couldn’t believe how quickly his English improved. He
always asked me to speak to him in English so he could learn.

Mr Apcarian had a year left to complete his PhD in medicine.

"On weekdays from around 7am to 6:30pm, he worked as a researcher;
Thursday and Friday nights he would race off to indoor soccer; and
Saturday and Sundays he worked at a service station," Mr Razavi said.

"I really looked up to Arin as a role model in all respect.

"This was not only our loss, it was a loss to the Armenian-Iranian
community, (and) also a loss to Australia," he said.

The family was close-knit and known for hospitality, Mr Razavi
said. "As a family they were amazingly close — always together like
a team.

"The fact that he travelled to Iran with Ani shows how close they
were," he said.

Mr Razavi visited members of the Apcarian family at Quakers Hill in
Sydney’s west on Sunday.

"The moment I hugged his brother, tears started to gush out of his
eyes. His mother is very distraught as well," he said.

The Armenian National Committee of Australia spokesman Stephen
Abolakian said: "Today is a sad day for Armenians worldwide, and
closer to us, the Armenian community in Sydney, who lost two vibrant
members of the community."

Initial reports of the death caused confusion in the Armenian community
as there were numerous spellings of the deceased’s names, with Iranian
news agencies and Caspian Airlines, using different translations.

A memorial service will be held at the Armenian Apostolic Church of
Holy Resurrection at Chatswood tomorrow.