A 27-year old woman, who sustained serious brain injuries after a balcony fell on her 21st birthday killing six of her close friends, has passed away from stroke seven years later.
Aoife beary was a Blackrock resident who suffered from a stroke. She was taken to Beaumont Hospital Dublin. On Saturday, she succumbed.
Beary lost six of her friends while celebrating her 21st Birthday party at the Library Gardens apartment in Berkeley. This was after their fifth-floor balcony collapsed.
Beary was one of seven survivors who advocated after the tragedy for public safety records to be released by building companies.
Students were visiting America as part of the J-1 program for summer work visas. This popular program sees thousands of Irish youth flock to America each year.
Beary suffered life-threatening injuries such as brain trauma, broken bones and organ lacerations and underwent a lengthy recovery in California and back home in Ireland that included an open heart surgery.
The cause of her death is not known.
Aoife, 27, from Blackrock in south Dublin was admitted to Beaumont Hospital on Wednesday following a stroke.
Angela Beary and Aoife beary from Dublin, Ireland joined by Vice Consul Kevin Byrne (Irish Consulate General) as California state legislators discuss SB465 at the Assembly Appropriations Committee in Sacramento on August 10, 2016.
Shortly after June 2016, the balcony at fifth floor was smashed, killing six and injuring seven other people
Beary has been pursuing studies in the last few years at Oxford Brookes University is located in England.
Her age was 27 at the time she sustained the injury. studying for a pharmacology degree at the University of California, Davis.
Beary explained to the California legislature in August 2016 that her injuries forced her into a halting her education and had made her lose her independence.
“Some of my injuries are with me for life,” she stated at that time. “My life is forever altered.”
Aoife Beary, a survivor of the Berkeley tragedy with One Direction
Olivia Burke and Eoghan Culligan, Niccolai Shuster, Lorcan Müller, Eimear Kelly, Eimear, Walsh, all 21 years old, died after the balcony fell under the combined weight of 13 people.
She added, “Now my birthday will forever be their anniversary,” to which she also spoke of her tragic friends’ deaths.
Before her death on Saturday, Beary had pushed for building companies to release public safety records to the California’s building regulator, The Irish Times reported.
Olivia Burke, Niccolai Schster, Lorcan Miller and Eimear Walsh were all from Ireland. Ashley Donohoe (22), was also killed when the balcony collided with the 13-person weight.
Aoife and Stanford Medical Staff at Berkeley, California, America
Apartment balconies are more for decoration than they are to be a place where large numbers of people can rest.
Later, authorities revealed that wooden beams supporting the balcony’s roof were damaged by water and had rotted.
Conor Flynn, Jack Halpin, Conor Murray and Sean Fahey and Clodagh Cgley and Hannah Walters all survived the accident.
Many of the foreign students were originally from South Dublin and were here on the J1 visa program that attracts thousands each year.
According to 2001 committee that approved Library Gardens, the apartment balconies were not intended to be a place to rest large numbers of people but more as decoration.
Apartment in Library Gardens was constructed from wood frame. The balcony could be seen from the building. There was no support underneath.
Later, officials revealed that the wooden beams supporting the balcony had been water damaged and were rotten.