DUBLIN — The flag flew at half-staff across Ireland on Wednesday, as the country struggled to come to terms with the tragedy that took the lives of six young people when a balcony collapsed during a party in Northern California.
The news has dominated the airwaves and informal conversations in Ireland since the severity of the accident, which took place in the early hours of Tuesday in Berkeley, Calif., became apparent.
The authorities in Berkeley have identified the dead as Ashley Donohoe, 22; Olivia Burke, 21; Eimear Walsh, 21; Eoghan Culligan, 21; Niccolai Schuster, 21; and Lorcan Miller, 21. Ms. Donohoe, who was from California, held dual Irish-American citizenship and was a cousin of Ms. Burke’s.
Seven others were badly injured, with two believed to be in critical condition in Bay Area hospitals. Jennifer Coats, a spokeswoman for the Berkeley Police Department, described their condition as “very serious and potentially life-threatening.”
Five of the victims came from middle-class areas in the south of Dublin, and some of them had traveled together to work in the Bay Area for the summer on J-1 visas, a longstanding program that allows foreign students to work in the United States temporarily.
Niall Cogley, whose daughter, Clodagh, was injured when the balcony gave way, relayed her account from the hospital to a newspaper.
“From what I understand, there was a 21st,” Mr. Cogley told The Irish Independent, referring to a birthday celebration, “and there was a bunch of them on a balcony, either getting some air, or dancing, or whatever you do at a 21st. Then it just fell from the sky and they all ended up on the street, some fatally injured.”
Ms. Cogley, 21, is being treated for broken bones.
The families of those affected reportedly began to arrive in San Francisco on Wednesday morning, while tributes were being paid back home. An impromptu all-night vigil was held at the Our Lady of Perpetual Succor Catholic church in Foxrock, the home of some of the victims. Books of condolence will be opened in Dublin and in Galway.
In Berkeley, attention was turning to the reasons the balcony collapsed. In a statement, Berkeley city authorities said they were investigating the structural integrity of the fourth-floor balcony. Thirteen people were believed to have been standing on the balcony when it gave way.
Footage of the building, with what looked like rotten wooden support beams where the balcony once was, has imbued a growing sense of bewilderment in Ireland about structural standards in the United States. Many engineering experts have questioned the use of wood rather than steel for such construction, saying that such methods appear more in keeping with developing countries.
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