US

Balcony collapse survivor dies six years later, aged 27

One of the survivors of the 2015 Berkeley balcony collapse, Aoife Beary, has died at the age of 27.

Six Irish students were killed and several others were injured when a fourth-floor balcony in Berkeley, California, collapsed causing those on it to fall about 40ft (12.2m) to the ground.

Most of the students were in the US on J-1 summer visas, a common trip for young Irish people, and were celebrating Ms Beary’s 21st birthday at the time of the incident on 16 June 2015.

Ms Beary, from Blackrock in south Dublin, survived the tragedy but was left with life-changing injuries.

Flowers are laid at a memorial near the scene of a 4th-story apartment building balcony collapse in Berkeley in 2015
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Flowers were laid at a memorial near the scene of the balcony collapse in 2015

She suffered a serious brain injury in the fall, along with broken bones and organ lacerations, and required open-heart surgery as a result, according to the Irish Times.

It is understood she died in Beaumont Hospital in Dublin on Saturday after suffering a stroke on Wednesday, the newspaper reported.

South Dublin GAA club Cuala paid tribute to the young woman, who reportedly had been studying at Oxford Brookes University in England in recent years.

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In a post on the team’s website, the club said: “It is with a heavy heart and great sadness we have to tell you that Aoife Beary passed away peacefully last night in Beaumont Hospital.

“We are all devastated.

“We pass on the condolences of the whole Cuala community to Mike, Angela, Tim, Anna and the whole Beary family.”