Aoife Beary, a survivor of the 2015 Berkeley balcony collapse that killed six people during her 21st birthday, has died at 27. Beary’s alma mater, University College Dublin, confirmed that she died on Saturday in a Sunday statement extending its sympathies to family and friends. In June of 2015, Beary came away from the collapse of the fourth-floor balcony of an apartment building in Berkeley, California, with life-changing injuries, including a serious brain injury, broken bones and organ lacerations. Beary and five of the six killed were Irish students working in the U.S. on short-term visas at the time of the collapse. Seven others were injured in the tragedy. A 2015 report revealed that the balcony had decayed to severe dry rot, despite it being less than 10 years old. After the collapse, Beary helped the passage of a bill to make construction businesses more transparent after testifying before California state lawmakers about her experience.
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