Deadly balcony collapse tied to rotted beams

BERKELEY, CALIF. — The balcony collapse that killed six college students appears to have been caused by rotted wooden beams, Berkeley’s mayor said Wednesday as the victims’ heartbroken loved ones began arriving in the U.S. from Ireland.

Mayor Tom Bates said investigators believe the wood was not caulked and sealed properly at the time of construction and was damaged by moisture as a result.

The crowded fifthfloor balcony broke off an apartment building during a 21st-birthday party held by visiting Irish college students Tuesday, spilling 13 people 50 feet onto the pavement below. In addition to the six killed, seven were seriously hurt.

“More than likely, it was caused by rain and water damage that was caused to the support beams,” Bates said. He said it was “obviously a bad idea” for 13 people to crowd onto such a small balcony but added that he is not blaming the victims.

Cassandra Bujarski, a spokeswoman for the apartments’ property management firm, Greystar, had no comment.

Building inspectors also determined another balcony at the Library Gardens apartment complex was “structurally unsafe and presented a collapse hazard,” and it ordered it demolished. Two other balconies were red-tagged, or declared off-limits, at the apartments, which were completed in 2007 and are popular among visiting students and those at the nearby University of California, Berkeley.

Across the Atlantic, flags flew at half-staff around Ireland and the country’s parliament suspended normal business as the nation mourned the dead: Ashley Donohoe, 22, of Rohnert Park, California; and Olivia Burke, Eoghan Culligan, Niccolai Schuster, Lorcan Miller and Eimear Walsh, all 21-year-olds from Ireland.