Many passengers were students and academics returning to Canada, including two recent Concordia graduates, Siavash Ghafouri-Azar and Sara Mamani.

In a long statement on the airline's website today, Yevhenii Dykhne also says the company expects the formalities for compensation to families of the 176 people killed will be ``finalized in the immediate future.''

The remains of the Canadian-based mother and daughter were identified at the crash site last weekend, but the Haghjoo family had to battle the Iranian government to have the bodies returned and buried on Canadian soil -- before the Persian country finally gave in.

More than a dozen Iranian-Canadians rallied in front of the Manitoba Legislature Sunday to call for justice after Ukraine International Airline's flight 752 was shot down over Tehran earlier this month, killing all 176 passengers including 57 Canadians. 

At a briefing by its president and vice president, the airline also denied the aircraft veered off its normal course after an Iranian military statement said the plane flew close to a sensitive military site of the elite Revolutionary Guards.

The memorial to the victims of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 grows as more people arrive in Kyiv.

Two vigils are being held to remember the Winnipeggers who tragically lost their lives in the Tehran plane crash.