The building, built in 2006, is two blocks from the University of California, Berkeley campus. The Irish students were in the U.S. on temporary visas and even Irish President Michael D. Higgins said in a statement that he had “heard with the greatest sadness of the terrible loss of life of young Irish people and the critical injury of others in Berkeley (…).” Technically on the scene of the accident, the balcony with the students crumbled onto the balcony directly below it, on the 3rd floor. It’s not yet known what the people were doing on the structure at the time of the accident but it’s supposed 12-14 people on the balcony before the collapse.
