Irish among dead in balcony collapse

[Gabriel_Hurl]

http://www.berkeleyside.com/2015/06/16/balcony-collapse-leaves-five-irish-students-dead-many-injured/

A Structural Engineer named Gene St. Onge

http://stongeassociates.com/about-us/ 

[Hardy]

The support timbers look to be in very poor condition on the TV pics - rotten it seems.

[Ohtoohtobe]

Just heard the names of the six. One is the same as an IC footballer probably not him though. Awful stuff.

[omaghjoe]

Ah Jaysus I see those  photos now, the whole thing just gave way at the wall and pivoted around that point. They would literally just have been tipped out, they wouldn't have had a chance at all.

Your right I'm no expert but the wood doesnt look good

[Walter Cronc]

God those images are awful viewing. Looks to be rotten.

[From the Bunker]

Have a terrible lump in my chest since seeing the pictures. A group of youngsters just having the craic and god know who would ever think of a Balcony collapsing? Maybe someone with a few too many falling over the side, but feck the whole front just tipping them onto the street - Head first.

[Rois]

This is so tragic.
How many of us have headed off for carefree summers during university? Weekly phone call home to let them know you were ok.
Life can be very cruel.
Feels like the Irish community will have a lot of support over there, going by reports on news. Heartening at such a sad time.

[ONeill]

Interesting comment underneath:

Took a look in person. All beams show rotting and are broken a foot out from the building. No sharp wood splinters; all looks mushy. No obvious venting on the lower balcony. My guess is bad design, bad engineering, and bad construction.
.

[Eamonnca1]

Mate of mine said the same thing early this morning. I wasn't sure how he could tell from a photo but he seems to know his stuff so I'll defer to him since he's in the business. He reckoned it was dry rot. I'm not sure if overcrowding was the deciding factor. I'm no structural engineer but it boggles my mind that a structure like that was using wood as a load-bearing material rather than steel. I see a lot of wood used in construction out here, I suppose they have their reasons and they know what they're doing, but still, it makes me wonder.

When I heard the thing had tipped over at 90 degrees the blood went cold in my veins, it must have been horrifying.

[naka]

So tragic
I am sure a fair few of us spent summers in the U.S.
Puts  all our petty squabbles over football into perspective
Heart goes out to the families

[Croí na hÉireann]

Just heard the names of the six. One is the same as an IC footballer probably not him though. Awful stuff.

Not him, a Ballyboden man though who played at Inter/Junior level. Fella from club up here among the injured, broken leg anyway, hope it's no more than that. Couple of the injured supposed to be in a bad way, hope they pull through with no lasting injuries. Thoughts with all those out there and their families and friends.

Edit: The front page of the Star today is a disgrace. The last thing friends and families need to see is body bags on a Californian pavement.

[JoG2]

So sad. Thoughts are with them all. Terrible tragedy

[laoislad]

So very very sad. It does look like those wooden support beams were rotten alright.
One of the victims was American apparently.
RIP
Hope the rest pull through.

[cornerback]

So very very sad. It does look like those wooden support beams were rotten right.
One of them was American apparently.
RIP

Heard this morning on the news that the American is possibly a cousin of one of the deceased Irish.

May they all Rest In Peace

[armaghniac]

Heard this morning on the news that the American is possibly a cousin of one of the deceased Irish.

May they all Rest In Peace

I think the American has Irish parents and was a cousin, indeed.

AS  for the construction, it is clear that the balconies on these couple of apartments were ornaments as much as anything else, which represents a failure in the building regulations.