When the earthquake struck, the freeway buckled and twisted before the support columns failed and the upper deck fell on the lower deck. Forty-two people were crushed to death in their cars. Cars on the upper deck were tossed around violently, some of them flipped sideways and some of them were left dangling at the edge of the freeway. Nearby residents and factory workers came to the rescue, climbing onto the wreckage with ladders and forklifts and pulling trapped people out of their cars from under a four-foot gap in some sections. 60 members of Oakland's Public Works Agency left the nearby city yard and joined rescue efforts. Employees from Pacific Pipe drove heavy lift equipment to the scene and started using it to raise sections of fallen freeway enough to allow further rescue. Local workers continued their volunteer operation nonstop until October 21, 1989, when they were forced to pause as U.S. President George H. W. Bush and California Governor George Deukmejian viewed the damage. On October 21, survivor Buck Helm was freed from the wreckage, having spent 90 hours trapped in his car. Dubbed "Lucky Buck" by the local radio, Helm lived for another 29 days on life support, but then died of respiratory failure at the age of 57.