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They were supposed to be flying together. Instead, Ottawa resident Mohsen Ahmadipour said goodbye to his wife Roja Azadian at the airport in Tehran on Tuesday, telling her he would join her as soon as he could get on another flight.

That would be the last time he ever saw her.

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Azadian, 43, was among eight Ottawa residents who died aboard Ukrainian International Airline Flight 752 when it crashed in flames shortly after takeoff Tuesday.

The Ottawa couple had been in Iran visiting their families. Azadian had studied at the Iran University of Science and Technology there.

They had planned to return home to Ottawa together, taking a popular route between Iran and Canada, by way of Ukraine.

But when they arrived at the airport in Tehran, Ahmadipour was surprised to learn that his ticket was no longer valid.

That mix-up saved his life.

He had cancelled a portion of it, but assumed the portion between Tehran and Toronto was still valid. He learned when he and Azadian went to check in that it was not, said Kevin Manesh.