Berkeley tragedy: Two countries in mourning

The balcony below the one that collapsed, killing six young students, including five Irish, was removed yesterday after being branded an immediate “collapse hazard” by Berkeley city inspectors.

The move came after experts identified dry rot of the wood supports as the main cause of Tuesday’s early morning collapse that killed the students and left seven others injured, two of whom were still in a serious condition last night.

Family of the dead and injured, arriving in the San Francisco Bay Area, were given details on the investigation into the tragedy.

City building inspector Patrick Emmons, in a hard-hitting report, described the balcony as an “immediate hazard”.

The balcony, on the third floor of the Library Gardens complex near downtown Berkeley, “is structurally unsafe and presents a collapse hazard endangering public safety”, he wrote.

It is owned by New York-based private equity group BlackRock and managed by Greystar, a company with headquarters in South Carolina.

READ MORE: New York Times apologises for Berkeley article .

“The safety of our residents is our highest priority,” Greystar said in a statement.

Those who died and the injured were celebrating a 21st birthday party on the fourth-floor balcony when it collapsed, flipping 180 degrees, landing on top of the one below. The students were hurled into the air and onto the street.

Four were declared dead at the scene, a fifth on arrival in hospital, and a sixth later on Tuesday morning. They have been named as Olivia Burke, Eoghan Culligan, Nick Schuster, Lorcan Miller, and Eimear Walsh — all 21 and from Ireland — and Ashley Donohue, from California but with dual US-Irish citizenship.

The seven survivors are Hannah Waters, Clodagh Cogley, Niall Murray, Sean Fahey, Jack Halpin, Conor Flynn, and Aoife Beary, all aged between 20 and 22.

They had gathered to celebrate Aoife’s birthday.

In a Facebook post, Daragh Cogley, Clodagh’s brother, described how his sister’s life was likely saved by the actions of Jack Halpin, who grabbed her and broke her fall.

Flowers and cards at a memorial near the scene of the tragedy at the Library Gardens complex in Berkeley.

The Dáil held a minute’s silence in remembrance of the victims of the tragedy.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the loss of life had touched every family in Ireland as the pictures of the dead and injured could have been anyone’s children.

“It is shocking to think such beautiful young people, full of joy, excitement, and hope, who had only recently set off on a summer’s adventure, died so tragically,” Mr Kenny said.

Late yesterday, the Irish ambassador to the US, Anne Anderson, fired off a letter to The New York Times, which had been criticised for an article linking the tragedy to other incidents involving Irish J1 students.

“The implication of your article — that the behaviour of the students was in some way a factor in the collapse — has caused deep offence,” Ms Anderson wrote.

“It is quite simply wrong to say that the J1 visa programme is ‘a source of embarrassment for Ireland’.”

The New York Times did issue a statement accepting that some of the language in the report “could be interpreted as insensitive”.

Irish students in Berkeley and the Bay Area held a vigil at the scene of the tragedy last night.

Bishop of Oakland Michael Barber held a service at the city’s cathedral. Family members of those who died and the injured were due to attend.

READ MORE: New York Times apologises for Berkeley article .