Flags are flying at half-staff in Ireland as the country mourns five Irish college students killed when a balcony they were on collapsed at an apartment complex near UC Berkeley.
The Irish students — Olivia Burke, 21; Eoghan Culligan, 21; Lorcan Miller, 21; Niccolai Schuster, 21; and Eimear Walsh, 21 — attended various colleges in Dublin and were spending their summer working in the U.S. under the J-1 visa program.
In addition to the five Irish students, the balcony collapse claimed the life of Ashley Donohoe, 22, of Rohnert Park, California, who reportedly held joint Irish-American citizenship. Seven more people were injured.
According to a news report, the students were celebrating a 21st birthday in an apartment in The Library Gardens apartment complex. At least 13 people were reportedly on the balcony of the fifth-floor apartment in the complex when it collapsed, sending them about 50 feet down onto the pavement.
Investigators will be looking into whether the balcony was built to code, which at the time the complex was built in 2007 required the balcony to hold at least 60 pounds per square foot. That requirement has since been increased to 100 pounds per square foot.
Grace Kang, a structural engineer and spokesperson for Berkeley’s Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center, was quoted in an Associated Press article as saying it appears the balcony dimensions were around 4 feet by 6 feet, or 24 square feet. At that dimension, it should hold 1,440 pounds, which was probably exceeded if 13 people were on the balcony.
In addition, she noted that the building had wood-frame construction, and the balcony was cantilevered out from the building with no additional support underneath it. This can make a balcony more susceptible to weathering and dry rot, which would compromise the integrity of the structure.
“This is a national tragedy for Ireland and the Irish community in Berkeley,” said Daniel J. Callahan of Callahan & Blaine, who is of Irish descent and has been named to the Irish Legal 100 for five years, an award that recognizes him as one of the top Irish-American attorneys in the United States. “My heart breaks for these families in their hour of grief at the loss of these young sons and daughters of Ireland.”
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