The Associated Press
BERKELEY, Calif. — A fourth-floor balcony crammed with people celebrating a 21st birthday collapsed with a bang early Tuesday near the University of California’s Berkeley campus, killing six people and seriously injuring seven others, authorities said.
At least five of the dead were Irish students in the U.S. on temporary work visas, Irish Foreign Minister Charlie Flanagan said.
Police and fire and building officials were working to determine what caused the roughly 5-by-10-foot balcony to break loose from the side of the apartment building. It landed on the railing of the 3rd-floor balcony below, dumping the partygoers.
“I just heard a bang and a lot of shouting,” said Dan Sullivan, a 21-year-old student from Ireland who was asleep in the building. Mark Neville, another Irish student in the building, said: “I walked out and I saw rubble on the street and a bunch of Irish students crying.”
Police had gotten a complaint about a loud party in the apartment about an hour before the accident but had not yet arrived when the balcony gave way at 12:41 a.m., police spokesman Officer Byron White said. Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny said police told him 13 people were on the balcony.
The Library Gardens apartment complex is about two blocks from the Berkeley campus and is a popular place for students to live. After the accident, city building inspectors barred people from using the remaining balconies at the complex while they are inspected for safety.