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Ireland pledges assistance to citizens affected by Berkeley balcony collapse

Xinhua, June 18, 2015 Adjust font size:

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny on Wednesday pledged all possible consular assistance for the Irish citizens and their families affected by the Berkeley balcony collapse.

In a statement to the parliament, Kenny said assistance will be given to the families both at Ireland's Dublin airport and in San Francisco of the United States.

He said the Department of Foreign Affairs has been in touch with all the families and that a liaison officer had been assigned to help them with the journey ahead.

Additional staff have been sent to San Francisco, and there are staff at the consulate in Boston and New York for families travelling through those cities, according to Kenny.

He also said grief counsellors will be available at Berkeley city hall where an incident center has been set up.

On Wednesday, there was a minute's silence in the parliament for the five young Irish students and one young Irish-American, killed in a balcony collapse in Berkeley, California during a birthday party in the early hours of Tuesday. The parliament was then suspended for two hours.

Seven other students, also from Ireland, were injured and some have critical, life-threatening wounds following the tragedy. Endit