Michael Jackson [Photo: Sina.com]

US pop icon Michael Jackson has been confirmed dead Thursday at age 50.

In a telephone interview with CNN, Los Angeles Coroner Fred Corral said that the star was pronounced dead after arriving at a local hospital in full cardiac arrest, Xinhua reports.

The time of Jackson's death was around 2:26 p.m. local time, said the coroner, adding that an autopsy would likely take place on Friday.

"Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon and paramedics were unable to revive him. We're told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back," the entertainment website TMZ earlier reported.

Footage from CNN shows that hundreds of people have gathered outside the UCLA Medical Center, where the entertainer was treated.

A Jackson family attorney said he was told by brother Randy Jackson that Michael Jackson collapsed at his home in west Los Angeles Thursday morning, CNN reported.

The Pop giant, who took to the stage as a child star, went on to set the world dancing to the thumping rhythms of his music for decades. Jackson's hits includes the worldwide bestseller "Thriller."

The music icon from Gary, Indiana, is widely recognized as the "King of Pop."

However he was tried and acquitted of child molestation charges in 2005. After the trial, he left the United States to live in Bahrain.