Berkeley Balcony Collapse Autopsies Released, Possible Cause Revealed

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — 11 a.m. (PDT)

Autopsies have revealed that multiple blunt injuries caused the deaths of six students in a balcony collapse in Berkeley, California.

The results were released Thursday by Jesika Grubaugh, an Alameda County sheriff's technician with the coroner's bureau.

Five of the victims were 21-year-old students from Ireland who were in the U.S. on work visas. Another was a 22-year-old from Rohnert Park, California.

People lay candles at a makeshift memorial as they gather at the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park to mourn the loss of 6 students who died in an early Tuesday morning balcony collapse on June 17, 2015 in Berkeley, California.

The students were at a birthday party when the crowded fifth-floor balcony broke off an apartment building. Seven other students were hospitalized.

Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said rotted wooden beams might have caused the collapse. He later said the theory was speculation and a cause had not been officially determined.

Grubaugh said she could not comment on whether the bodies of the victims have been released to their families.