Kind acts help Berkeley victims and their families

A statement on behalf of the families of four of the survivors of last month’s Berkeley balcony collapse, has thanked all who have helped the injured college students, and paid tribute to those who lost their lives.

The release by the families of Aoife Beary, Clodagh Cogley, Hannah Waters, and Niall Murray thanked officials on both sides of the Atlantic, and well-wishers, donors, and medical staff in California.

It read: “As traumatic and difficult as the past five weeks have been for Aoife, Clodagh, Hannah, and Niall, our constant thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families and friends of Eimear Walsh, Ashley Donohue, Olivia Burke, Niccolai Schuster, Lorcán Miller and Eoghan Culligan. May they rest in peace.

“Thanks to all our extraordinary families, neighbours, work colleagues, and friends who must have felt at times so distant and so powerless to help but who have in many cases thrown themselves into important roles at home and abroad from logistical support to vigils to simply sharing news with families and other close friends.

“To the very many others, some of whom we have never met and may never meet, who have contributed to the amazing fundraising efforts in Ireland and elsewhere and who have offered every other type of support: cards, texts, calls, emails, prayers, Mass cards, gifts as well as random but very moving acts of kindness and generosity.”

The families said that they hoped their loved ones would be able to return home in the coming weeks and months.

“We would only ask that, when they eventually do return, that their many friends and wellwishers will be able to contain themselves a little longer until they are really ready, physically and emotionally, to reach out and invite them to meet.

“We don’t know when this will be, and each will have their own thoughts, needs and timescales but, in the circumstances, we hope you will understand and accept our need as parents and siblings to be overprotective of our brothers, sisters, and our kids for some time to come. They have been through so much.”

The families also thanked the Irish and Californian media “for their ongoing sensitivity and restraint” and asked that they continue to respect the families’ privacy.