Berkeley balcony collapse: Injured Irish student says he feels guilty he lived

SAN JOSE, Calif. The young men had just fulfilled the Irish tradition of 21 Kisses, one by one lining up in the crowded Berkeley apartment to plant one on the lips of Aoife Beary on the night of her 21st birthday. “We were all joking and laughing,” recalled Niall Murray, unaware as he joined other Irish students on the balcony that four of the young men standing beside him would never kiss another colleen.

Nearly three months later, seated in a wheelchair outside Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Friday, Murray provided the first public account of events that unfolded the night of June 16, when the balcony suddenly gave way, and everyone on it began falling. Six people died after plummeting five stories to the street, and seven others were seriously injured including Murray, who has undergone seven surgeries, broke three fingers, a wrist, an elbow and his heel.

As Murray discussed his feelings of survivor’s guilt, it seemed apparent he had not stopped falling yet.

“I felt quite guilty that I’m alive, and they’re not,” he said, flanked by his mother, older brother Ciaraan, and a team of rehab therapists. “I’m not sure why, you know.”

Most of the victims that night were Irish college students, planning to spend a golden summer abroad, many of them working in San Francisco during the day, and crammed into apartments near the University of California, Berkeley, campus at night.

The cruelest moment came after Murray awoke in the hospital and logged in to Facebook, discovering that his two best friends Eoghan Culligan and Niccolai Schuster, both 21 had perished in the collapse.

“He was in bits,” said his mother, Helen, who had rushed from the family’s home in Dublin to be with her son, and to be the one to tell him the terrible news about his friends. “It was a terrible way for him to find out. Our family feel the way it should be done is for somebody to tell you that somebody is lost, rather than hear about it on your phone. He was really, really devastated.”

Niall Murray has rediscovered his smile and hopes to be walking again next month. He has those bright Irish eyes that are enunciated by his pale complexion, but they still fill when he talks about “the six” who died. He’s determined to visit their families, hoping they can console each other, when he returns to Ireland next week. “It’s kind of like a bubble over here,” he said.

The Alameda County district attorney’s office is conducting a criminal investigation into the collapse, which Berkeley officials blamed on dry rot. One month to the day after the collapse, the City Council passed a law requiring new safety procedures in the construction and inspection of balconies. But in his first public appearance, Murray didn’t want to discuss legal matters. “We’ll get to that at another stage,” he said.

Hannah Waters, who stood beside Murray as the balcony disappeared beneath their feet, was near his side again Friday outside the hospital except this time they were both sitting in wheelchairs. “I don’t remember seeing anybody else but Hannah when we were falling through the air,” Murray said. “From the corner of my eye, I remember seeing how high up it was.”

Aoife Beary, who spent weeks in a coma after her 21 kisses, regained consciousness in July. Doctors say she faces a long recovery. But she’s alive. Clodagh Cogley, 21, wrote in a Facebook post that the severed spinal cord she suffered in the collapse will probably prevent her from ever walking again. But she, too, is alive. And like Murray, determined to live “the happiest and most fulfilling life possible,” to honor those who were lost.

“To our friends, we miss you,” Niall said. “We will always miss you. We will never forget you. Someday I look forward to seeing you all again.”

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