Berkeley balcony collapse: Victims fell 40ft to deaths from fourth-floor

News of the tragedy which has claimed the lives of six Irish people and left a number of others seriously injured first emerged when the Berkeley Police Department received an emergency call at 12.41am local time (8.41am Irish time).

As of last night, three women and three men were known to have been killed in the tragedy, with one of the victims understood to be of dual Irish-American citizenship and local to the area. It is understood two of the female victims were cousins.

A spokesman for the Berkeley PD said he was not sure who first raised the alarm, and that it could have been a call from a passer-by. A balcony on the fourth floor of the Library Gardens apartment building at 2020 Kittredge St, opposite the Berkeley Public Library in the downtown area, had collapsed. Photographs of the scene show the balcony having peeled off the building, rolling onto a balcony below.

RELATED STORY: Updates: Six Irish victims of Berkeley balcony collapse named.

The apartment had been the venue for the 21st birthday party for an Irish woman, just one of those from Ireland spending the summer in the Californian city on a J1 visa.

Units of the Berkeley Fire Department raced to the scene, where four people were declared dead. Another was rushed to the Highland Hospital for treatment, but was declared dead a short time later. The four bodies remained at the scene for some time.

Another eight people were injured and were taken to different hospitals around the bay Area. Such was the scope of the incident that units of the emergency services had to be drafted in from the surrounding area.

Local NBC News journalist Stephanie Chuang reported that a local man named Gerald Robinson had actually transported two people to Highland Hospital.

It was reported that as many as 13 people may have been standing on the balcony when it effectively disintegrated, plunging those on it 40ft to the ground below. As many as 50 people were in the apartment at the time attending the party.

A spokesman for the Berkeley PD said it had received a phonecall at around 12am regarding a “loud party” in the Library Gardens building, although he stressed that the call may not have related to the apartment featuring the balcony which later collapsed.

The eight people seriously injured in the incident were taken to different hospitals and trauma centres, including to the Eden Medical Centre, the Highland Hospital, and the John Muir Medical Centre.

At around 9am local time, the Alameda County Coroner confirmed the death of a sixth person. By then, any Irish person staying in the area had been asked to make contact with their families at home to reassure them that they were safe, while Police Captain Andy Greenwood of the Berkeley PD was also in contact with a number of families by yesterday afternoon Irish time.

Details as to where the victims of the tragedy were from are still emerging, but it is understood some were from south Dublin.

Irish student Owen Buckley, who lives on the third floor of the building, was quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle as saying many of the Irish people living in the area were students over to work for the summer.

Mr Buckley was not at the party but said: “I thought someone had gotten shot. I heard a massive wallop, and then it was dead quiet for two minutes.”

It also emerged that other balcony areas in the Library gardens apartment complex had been “red-tagged” by local police, meaning no one was allowed to stand on them while investigations into the tragedy were continuing.

Meanwhile, Fr Brendan McBride of the Irish Emigration pastoral Centre in San Francisco headed to the Highland Hospital in the early hours of the morning to be with the Irish patients being treated there.

A spokesperson for the hospital confirmed that three people were still being treated for their injuries — one male and two females in their early 20s — but would not elaborate on their condition. In the Eden Medical Center, a spokesperson said it was treating four people injured in the incident.

The building at 2020 Kittredge St was built in 2006 and is operated by Greystar, a nationwide company which also has European offices in London and Manchester. Police are already investigating how the balcony gave way. Attempts to get a comment on the incident from Greystar at their offices in Charleston, San Francisco, and Dallas were unsuccessful last night.

During the day, tributes were left at the scene of the balcony collapse by locals, including one flowers and a card, in which was written: “Dear Irish students. Oh my goodness. We are so very sorry to hear of your loss of your friends. It has been lovely to see you all around town.” The card was signed:“A Berkeley Irish-American mom.”

At Highland Hospital, Fr McBride said: “The Irish community have been overwhelming in its support.”

He said he could not give a medical update regarding the condition of those being treated in the various hospitals, but paid tribute to the efforts of medical staff in the midst of a situation he said was “unbelievably difficult to deal with“.

“This is the worst nightmare for a parent,” he said. “You send them off, they’re looking forward to a summer in California and this happens.”

RELATED STORY: Updates: Six Irish victims of Berkeley balcony collapse named.