VIDEO: Memorials and investigation at Berkeley balcony tragedy as two remain in critical condition

Two Irish students remain in critical condition at The Highlands Hospital in Oakland near Berkeley, today.

Six students were killed when the fourth floor balcony gave way on Monday night, while seven more were injured.

In the last 12 hours the parents of Aoife Beary and Hannah Waters have arrived to be at their bedsides as the two women continue to be in critical condition at The Highlands Hospital in Oakland near Berkeley.

Meanwhile, all necessary autopsies on the 6 deceased will be completed today; families will then be able to repatriate their loved ones although no arrangements have been confirmed as of yet.

The Irish consulate has set up a trauma centre in The public safety building in Berkeley with trained councillors available to support grief-stricken students.

Other families of the approximately 40-strong group that gathered on Kittredge Street are also in transit to Berkeley to provide support for those suffering from trauma.

Investigators have begun trying to pinpoint the cause of a balcony collapse that left six people dead and seven seriously injured.

At least one engineer said the balcony may have been overloaded.

There are the rotted joists in #BerkeleyBalconyCollapse pic.twitter.com/3IknYiLDxZ

— Stan Bunger (@BungerKCBSRadio) June 17, 2015

Meanwhile, memorials took shape on the ground below the fallen balcony, with people leaving flowers, a pack of cigarettes, a photo, condolence notes and an Irish flag.

The San Francisco Bay Area is especially popular with Irish students, about 700 of whom are working and playing here this summer, according to the consul general. Many work at Fisherman’s Wharf and other tourist sites.

Slideshow of images of tributes left at the scene of the tragedy in #Berkeley pic.twitter.com/c9TRYQwANR

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) June 17, 2015

“For many of my countrymen, this is a favourite experience, and to have this happen at the start of the season has left us frozen in shock,” said Philip Grant, Ireland’s San Francisco-based consul general.

The dead were identified as Ashley Donohoe, 22, of Rohnert Park, California, and Olivia Burke, Eoghan Culligan, Niccolai Schuster, Lorcan Miller and Eimear Walsh, all of Ireland.

Investigators are expected to look at such things as whether the balcony was built to code, whether it was overloaded and whether rain or other weather weakened it.

Berkeley officials said the building code at the time of the apartment house’s construction in 2007 required the balcony to hold at least 60 pounds per square foot. That requirement has since been raised to 100 pounds.

City spokesman Matthai Chakko said officials have not measured the balcony and how much weight it was built to bear.

Mr Chakko also said there is no city requirement to post a weight restriction for apartment balconies.

Grace Kang, a structural engineer and spokeswoman for Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Centre at Berkeley, said the balcony looked to her to be 4x6 feet, or 24 square feet.

That would mean it should have been able to bear at least 1,440 pounds. Thirteen normal-size adults would weigh more than that.

“They were packed like sardines, and then they were moving,” she said. When people are moving, it “may further exacerbate” the strain.