Bodies of four Berkeley victims due home today; families release statement
Four of the six students who lost their lives in the Berkeley balcony collapse are on their final journey home.
The Aer Lingus flight from San Francisco is due to touch down at Dublin airport after 11am.
The bodies of the other four arrive in Dublin today – medicine students at University College Dublin Lorcan Miller and Eimear Walsh; Niccolai Schuster, who studied arts at the same college and his friend from school days Eoghan Culligan.
Their families issued a statement of thanks to all those who supported them in the last week in the US and Ireland, but they also appealed for privacy as they return home.
“As we leave Berkeley and return home to Ireland with our beloved sons and daughters, Eimear, Eoghan, Lorcan and Niccolai, we would like to thank everyone in America and Ireland for their sympathy and support, which has been a tremendous comfort to us at this tragic time,” they said.
“Particularly we thank the local authorities, emergency services, medical staff, parishes and communities of Berkeley.
“In addition we are forever grateful to the Irish consul, Philip Grant, and his local team, and also the amazing service and support received from Aer Lingus, the Department of Foreign Affairs, US ambassador Anne Anderson, and a special appreciation to minister (Jimmy) Deenihan.
“We cannot thank enough the students that were in the apartment and apartment complex that night.
“The manner and speed at which they reached out to our families, to our consul, and to each other was faultless.
“Our children were extraordinarily blessed in their friends and we are enormously proud of them.
“The sympathy and responses of friends of our sons and daughters, the wider group of students on J1 visas and the program’s sponsoring agencies (USIT, SAYIT, CIEE and InterExchange) is a testament to their popularity, and to the closeness of these groups from school and university.
“The Irish communities of the Bay Area – co-ordinated by Fr Brendan McBride, Fr Aidan McAleenan, Celine Kennelly and their colleagues at the Irish Immigration and Pastoral Centre – have been a constant source of support and comfort.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Donohue family and Ashley, who was laid to rest today in Sonoma, and with Aoife, Clodagh, Connor, Hannah, Jack, Sean and Niall who remain in hospital and with their families, we wish them a speedy recovery.
“We very much appreciate the support and sympathy that has been expressed, but now we ask for privacy so that we can mourn the sudden and tragic passing of our beloved sons and daughters, with the dignity that they deserve.”
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A special mass was celebrated by Archbishop Diarmiud Martin at Dublin's Pro-Cathedral yesterday evening.
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