Michael Jackson dies - a timeline of his final hours and how it was reported

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Thursday June 25, 2009, 12.21pm local time (8.21pm UK): Emergency 911 call comes in from Jacko’s Holmby Hills home in Los Angeles. Captain Steve Ruda, of Los Angeles Fire Department tells the LA Times that Jackson was not breathing and had no pulse when paramedics arrived. His pulse was never regained.
Emergency cardiologists attempt to resuscitate the singer for more than one hour but he is completely unresponsive. They take him to UCLA Medical Centre – 2.5 miles away – and continue to attempt resuscitation in the ambulance.

1.14pm: Jackson is in full cardiac arrest on arrival at the hospital. The scene is absolute chaos with the people accompanying him screaming, “You’ve got the save him!”

2.26pm (10.26pm UK): Jackson is pronounced dead but the news isn’t made public yet.

4.30pm: Showbiz gossip website TMZ.com posts: "We've just learned Michael Jackson was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Los Angeles ... and we're told it was cardiac arrest and that paramedics administered CPR in the ambulance ... and it's looking bad. We're told his mother is on the way to visit him."

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The story is frequently updated with details and a picture believed to be that of Jackson arriving at hospital via ambulance is posted. His brothers are reported to be heading to LA and his dad Joe Jackson is quoted as saying "he is not doing well."

5.20pm: TMZ break the news that Jackson has died aged 50. A cardiologist at UCLA tells TMZ that Jackson died of cardiac arrest.

6.15 pm: TMZ had spoken to a grief-stricken Tito Jackson who says he had regrets about not having spoken to his brother "in a while."

6.30 pm: Pictures emerge of his distraught mother Katherine Jackson and sobbing sister La Toya arriving at the hospital.

Fans gather outside the hospital to pay tribute. Los Angeles coroner Fred Corral says cause of death is not known and an autopsy would likely take place on Friday.

Michael Jackson dead at 50. All you need to know about the King of Pop.