THE names of the 11 women killed when a private jet travelling from Dubai to Istanbul crashed in Iran have been revealed, two of whom were Spanish.
Turkey has been rocked by the high-profile death of multi-millionnaire corporate heiress Mina Başaran, 28, who was due to marry 3D-printing businessman Murat Gezer on April 14 and would have taken over the reins of the family empire, Başaran Holdings, from her father Hüseyin Başaran, after the wedding.
She was returning from her hen weekend in the United Arab Emirates, which included a luxury spa break and a night at a Rita Ora concert, with her seven closest friends, when the Bombardier Challenger 604 crashed in the Helen mountains south of Isfahan in the Sehr-i-Kurd district on Sunday, March 11.
All eight passengers, plus the two flight attendants and pilot – 11 women in total – perished when the jet went down seconds after a call was put through to the control tower requesting an emergency landing due to 'technical problems', at which point the engine burst into flames.
Mina, a social media influencer, Grazia and Harper's Bazaar covergirl and business graduate from Istanbul's Koç Üniversitesi is mourned along with seven other well-known women in the fashion world, including Turkish designers Bürcu Gündogar, Sinem Akay, Ayse And, Zeynep Çoskun and Bürcu Urfali.
The remaining two were Spanish and had met Mina, and each other, at Koç University.
Jasmin Baruh Siloni, 28 (pictured right), founded Baguette Jewellery, whose élite pieces are favourites worldwide with celebrities, especially in Turkey.
Liana Hananel, née Kalma, 28 (pictured left), founded the luxury swimwear firm Lily and Rose, whose brightly-coloured, elaborate and ultra-modern pieces are on sale in branches all over Turkey with pre-sales prices ranging from 600 to 850 Lira (€125 to €175).
Both Spanish women are as famous in Turkey as their heiress friend Mina – especially Liana, since she had a baby boy just four months ago who has been orphaned by the air crash.
Spain's foreign ministry has been informed and has confirmed their deaths.
Jasmin and Liana held dual Spanish-Turkish nationality – they were born in Turkey, but were able to claim Spanish passports through Spain's Royal Decree number 893 of the year 2015, whereby anyone who could prove they were direct descendents of the Sephardic Jews expelled from the Iberian peninsula in the 14th century was automatically awarded citizenship.
Mrs Hananel and Miss Baruh Siloni traced their ancestry back to the Sephardic Jews and obtained Spanish citizenship two years ago.
