Six college students died while seven others were injured when a balcony collapsed in an apartment near the University of California at Berkeley at around 12:45 a.m. Tuesday.
Five of the students from Ireland were on short-term work visas, and one was from California. They were celebrating a friend's 21st birthday on the fifth floor of the building when the balcony they were on disintegrated, plunging them 40 feet (12 meters) to the street below, AP reported.
Berkeley Police Chief Michael Meehan noted that there was "no indication of criminal activity or criminal intent," while police spokeswoman Jennifer Coats described the injuries as "very serious and potentially life-threatening."
The fallen deck pancaked onto a fourth-story balcony beneath it at the Library Gardens apartment complex. Structural engineers inspected the area and said that the balcony can carry merely a maximum weight of 60 pounds per square foot as required by a previous code.
Phil Grant, the San Francisco-based Irish consul for the U.S. West Coast, said news of the accident had left citizens all over Ireland "frozen in shock and disbelief."
"It's deeply, deeply tragic, and it touches every family in Ireland," he said.
Meanwhile, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny issued a statement of condolence to victims' families, saying, "My heart breaks for the parents who lost children this morning."
The dead are identified as 22-year-old Ashley Donohoe of Rohnert Park, California; 21-year-old Olivia Burke; 21-year-old Eoghan Culligan; 21-year-old Niccolai Schuster; 21-year-old Lorcan Miller; and 21-year-old Eimear Walsh, all from Ireland. Names of those injured weren't publicly released yet.
According to CNN, families of the Irish students had begun arriving in California to collect the remains of their loved ones.
Bystanders left flowers outside the building in memory of those who were killed.
Similar balconies in the building were off-limits following the collapse. The building is owned by BlackRock, the largest asset-management fund in the U.S., and managed by Greystar Management.
In a statement, Greystar extended condolences to the victims' families and added: "The safety of our residents is our highest priority and we will be working with an independent structural engineer and local authorities to determine the cause of the accident," reported Yahoo! News.
