Earthquake Survivor Buck Helm Dies at 58

Earthquake freeway survivor Buck Helm died Saturday night of respiratory failure, 28 days after being pulled from the collapsed Interstate 880 highway, hospital officials said.

Repeated attempts to resuscitate Helm, who turned 58 on Nov. 10, were unsuccessful, said Ronald Trevelen, a spokesman for the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center.

“We were very surprised. We were very saddened,” said Trevelen.

Helm was pulled from a 1.25-mile collapsed section of the Nimitz Freeway in Oakland four days after the 7.1-magnitude quake struck a 100-mile stretch of Northern California. on Oct. 17.