‘Breaks my heart.’ California family mourns newlyweds on plane shot down by Iran

A couple who got married on New Year’s Day in Tehran was en route to Canada when their plane was mistakenly shot down by Iran officials.

They never made it home.

Arash Pourzarabi, 26, and his wife, Pouneh Gorji, were among the 176 people killed aboard Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 on Jan. 8, according to NBC New York.

Pantea Khodami, Pourzarabi’s cousin from San Diego, says that their family is mourning their deaths and that the newlyweds had planned a second wedding ceremony in North America, NBC New York reported.

“Arash had just gotten results from his work and he was about to come back and publish a paper,” Khodami said. “It just breaks my heart that he won’t be able to do this. He won’t get to go on his honeymoon.”

Amir Forouzandeh, a friend of the couple, told CTV News that “they were basically the kindest souls that I know, honestly.”

“If you met them even once you could tell that these two belong together for sure,” he said.

Pourzarabi and Gorji were graduate students at the University of Alberta studying computer science, according to CTV News.

Iran has said that its military shot down the plane by mistake, according to CNN.

Arrests have been made over the downed plane and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that those responsible would be punished, CNN reported.

“I announce that we will do the follow up in order to detect all aspects of the event and punishing those responsible,” Rouhani said.

This story was originally published January 14, 2020 at 2:02 PM with the headline "‘Breaks my heart.’ California family mourns newlyweds on plane shot down by Iran."