Prime Minister Enda Kenny of Ireland expressed his sympathies Wednesday over the death of Irish students in a Berkeley, Calif., balcony collapse. File Photo by Ron Sachs/Pool/UPI |
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DUBLIN, Ireland, June 17 (UPI) -- Flags were flying at half-staff in Ireland on Wednesday as the country mourns Irish students killed when a balcony collapsed at an apartment they were visiting in California.
The families of the five students -- all in California on summer trips -- began arriving at the scene early Wednesday, where 13 people were believed to be on the apartment balcony. The Ireland-born students have been identified as Niccolai Schuster, Eoghan Culligan, Eimear Walsh, Olivia Burke and Lorcán Miller, all 21. A sixth Irish-American woman who died, Ashley Donohoe, 22, lived outside San Francisco. Donohoe and Burke were cousins.
Seven others were hospitalized with potentially life-threatening injuries.
Authorities said they were celebrating a 21st birthday when the fourth-floor balcony gave way. Several of the victims were students at University College Dublin studying history and political science. Two --Miller and Walsh -- were medical students there. UCD President Andrew Deeks said the school opened a condolences book on its website, which had hundreds of entries.
"We cannot comprehend the desperate shock and grief they are feeling, and we are heartbroken at their suffering and loss," Deeks said of the victim's families. "It is heart-breaking to imagine that such a tragedy would strike these wonderful students when their lives are opening up to discover the world."
The Irish parliment was suspended for nearly two hours Wednesday as Prime Minister Enda Kenny paid respects to the students and their families. He said representatives from the country will be traveling to California to assist the families.
"When you look at the newspapers this morning, don't you see the photographs of your own children? To think such beautiful children's lives could end so tragically and others are lying in hospitals critically injured," he said. "It could have happened anywhere. The families are in our prayers."
City investigators in Berkeley are continuing to examine the structural components of the balcony and other factors that may have contributed to the collapse at the Library Gardens apartment building, located near the University of California, Berkeley campus. Engineers have suggested dry rot contributed to the cause.
The property is managed by South-Carolina based Greystar, a property management and real estate development company. The company said it will work with an independent structural engineer and local authorities to determine the cause.
