Woman had premonition her plane would crash in Iran, husband says. She called him 20 minutes before takeoff

She'd taken three weeks off from her job in Toronto to visit her mother and sisters in Tehran. Her vacation was over, and she was heading back to Canada to her husband, Hassan Shadkhoo. Her flight was leaving from Tehran to the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.

"I spoke to her ... 20 minutes before the plane took off," he said Wednesday in Toronto. She was worried about the tensions between Tehran and the United States after President Donald Trump ordered the killing of Iranian top general Qasem Soleimani.

"She wanted me to assure her that there wasn't going to be a war. I told her not to worry. Nothing's gonna happen," her husband told CNN's news partner CBC. Then she said goodbye and turned her phone off in preparation for takeoff.

Bodies of the victims of a Ukrainian plane crash are collected by rescue team at the scene of the crash southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran.

The Kiev-bound Ukraine International Airlines flight never made it to its destination. It crashed after takeoff in Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 people aboard, including Sheyda Shadkhoo and 62 other Canadians.

Hassan Shadkhoo said his wife had a premonition the plane was going down. Just before she left Iran, she posted a selfie on Instagram expressing her fears.

"Look at her face, look at the poem that she wrote," he said as he held up his phone to show the photo she posted. Then he read the words she wrote, his voice breaking.

Rescue teams work at the scene after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed in the Iranian capital of Tehran.

"I'm leaving but what's behind me worries me," he read. "Behind me, behind me. I'm scared for the people behind me."

Hassan Shadkoo said he's devastated and can't imagine life without his wife of 10 years.

"She was an angel," he told CBC. " ... I wish I didn't exist right now."

There are conflicting reports and speculation on what caused the plane to crash.

At first, Iranian state media blamed technical issues while Ukraine ruled out rocket attacks. But officials in both countries have since walked back their statements and have said they're not going to speculate on the cause.

The crash came hours after Iran fired a number of missiles at two Iraqi bases housing US troops in retaliation for the general's killing, sparking questions over the timing of the incident.

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