All the dead were young Irish kids over on their J1. The J1 is considered a rite of passage in Ireland. College age kids spend a summer working (and partying) in the US. All the victims were apparently aged between 20 and 25. There are 8 others currently being treated in hospital for injuries. Poor kids. 
Sad, tragic. 
How sad. And so hard for the families to be so far away.
StG
Just guessing, based on the pictures and the report of 13 people on the balcony, it may have been a simple case of too many people/too much weight on the balcony.
Tragic and horrible nonetheless.
This has happened in New Orleans, too, in the French Quarter.
It also happened about twelve years ago in Chicago, where thirteen people died. In that case, the problem was poor construction.
Death toll is now 6 and none of them were older than 22.
A local rag’s front cover for tomorrow has the body bags of the victims. A lot of folk justly upset about it.
Ah, young and immortal - sure it’s sagging a bit - no problem…
This story plays out about every 10 years in the US - and it’s always the under-30’s who are sure the deck/balcony/fire escape can hold one more.
Rites of passage should not include burying cohorts.
It actually happens more often than that in Chicago due to the abundance of wooden fire escapes/back porches. No less tragic.
This is so terribly sad, the poor families so far away.
The latest report is they think it was dry rot in the beams supporting the balcony, which is kind of shocking to me - I believe the apartment building is only about 7 years old. They’ve just announced they’re removing another balcony in the building after determining it too isn’t safe.
This apparently isn’t the builder’s first time at making bad balconies. They’ve been sued before with claims of dry rot and poorly constructed balconies at other buildings. It remains to be seen if the architect forgot to specify and require flashing and waterproofing, or if the builder forgot to install it, or installed it improperly.
Yesterday, the local building inspectors declared the balcony under the one that collapsed an imminent collapse hazard and ordered it removed within 24 hours, and two others were red-tagged. I saw some video on TV of the balcony removal and the wood was crumbling into dust.
Thirteen people on the balcony may be crowded, but at least one news agency worked out that it was still within the load requirements in the building code.
(No specific link given as news links tend to change or disappear)
I saw that calculation of people and weight on a couple newscasts. “Were there too many people on the balcony?” is an entirely reasonable question to ask, but having a real investigation to find the real answer is the proper response, and if the other balconies were a hazard I’m glad we found out without further tragedy.
Here’s a picture of that wood:
There was a surge in porch inspections in Chicago after that - I know a number of people who got fined for construction that wasn’t up to code. Which may not have been such a bad thing, all in all.
There was a lot of umbrage taken at an NYT article about the tragedy. It definitely approached victim blaming and was heavy on the stereotyping.
For what it’s worth, the Public Editor (aka ombudsman) at the New York Times conceded that the article should not have appeared to be blaming the victims.
It appears to be this place: Street View. I don’t know this building specifically but I’ve walked past it before I’m sure. 2 star average review. One from last week (doesn’t say if it was before the incident): “obviously horribly constructed. I would not advise going out on the patio… you might end up falling a few stories to your death. another example of irresponsible landlords and housing management taking advantage of the housing shortage for students in Berkeley.” :dubious: Berkeley is full of crappy properties that still get rented by students for too much money because the demand is high.
It appears that the plans for the building were good, but it is not clear if the waterproofing was ever put on the balcony, or ever inspected. It is not mentioned in the inspection reports the news people got this morning.
The balcony should have held far more people than were on it.
Utterly tragic. I remember the Chicago incident very well as I lived near the building. Many times I’ve been out on a balcony at a party.
The kids were all over on a J-1 student visa. We get several thousand in Chicago every summer. Vast majority of them good kids.