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Ireland mourns balcony death students
The Irish national flag flew at half mast and parliament was suspended Wednesday in tribute to the six young people who died when an apartment balcony collapsed during a 21st birthday party in California
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he Irish national flag flew at half mast and parliament was suspended Wednesday in tribute to the six young people who died when an apartment balcony collapsed during a 21st birthday party in California.
"The flag of our country flies at half mast as a mark of respect and sympathy to the families of the bereaved," Irish Prime Minster Enda Kenny told parliament.
Five Irish citizens and an Irish-American woman, all aged either 21 or 22, died after a fourth-floor apartment balcony collapsed at a building in Berkeley, located two blocks from the University of California campus.
At least seven people were injured, with some in a critical condition, during the accident in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Three of the dead were students from University College Dublin, Ireland's largest university.
"It is a disastrous day for UCD," the university's student union president Marcus O'Halloran told Irish media on Wednesday.
Parliament held a minute's silence after statements of condolences from all parties before proceedings were suspended for 90 minutes in tribute.
The victims were identified as 22-year-old Ashley Donohoe, an Irish-US dual citizen from California; and Olivia Burke, Eoghan Culligan, Niccolai Schuster, Lorcan Miller and Eimear Walsh, who were 21 and from Ireland.
Ashley Donohoe and Olivia Burke were cousins.
The Irish students were all on the J1 work-study summer visa program, which allows them to teach, study, conduct research and work legally during their stay in the United States.
About 8,000 Irish students applied for the J1 program this year, with California the most popular destination.
The accident dominated the front pages of all Irish newspapers on Wednesday and radio programs have dedicated entire broadcasts to covering the story.
"A nation left heartbroken" read the headline in the Irish Daily Mail, accompanied with smiling pictures of the six dead.
"When you look at the papers this morning, don't you see the faces of your own children?" Kenny said in parliament.
The Irish flag, the tricolor, flew at half mast at all state buildings across Ireland. The US flag was also at half mast at the US embassy in Dublin. (iik)(++++)
