workers retrieve the bodies of previously killed hostages dumped outside the school buildings. Two trucks approach to pick up the bodies. 12:59 PM: Medical workers approaching building are being fired at by the terrorists. 1:05 PM: Two of the explosives in the gym detonate, blowing out the windows and partially destroying one wall. Many hostages die outright, many others are wounded. Other hostages take it as a signal to flee. Terrorists fire on fleeing women and children. About 30 hostages escape alive. 1:10 PM: Russian special forces moved in. 1:30 PM: Gym roof collapses, crushing many hostages in the rubble underneath. Ambulances ferry escaped hostages to nearby makeshift military hospital. 1:40 PM: Russian special forces surge into school gym. 1:45 PM: A group of attackers flee the school, pursued by Russian forces. 2:00 PM: More hostages are freed from the gym by Russian forces which are combing the buildings. 2:05 PM: Russian forces report they have most of the school under control. 2:15 PM: Five attackers killed. 2:28 PM: Paramedics enter gym. 2:30 PM: Group of hostage-takers make a stand in the school cafeteria using women and children as human shields. 2:40 PM: Russian forces blow holes in school walls to allow more hostages to escape. 3:15 PM: Most of the hostages freed. More than 100 bodies found in the school, mostly in the gym where the initial explosions took place and the roof collapsed. 3:25 PM: A group of about 13 escaped terrorists holed up in local home south of the school. They are surrounded by Russian forces and destroyed by a group of T-72 tanks. 3:55 PM: Three attackers trapped in the school basement with a number of hostages they use as human shields. 5:30 PM: Russian forces report the assault on the school was unplanned. 5:35 PM: One hostage-taker, Nur-Pashi Kulayev, tried to pass himself off as a wounded hostage then got recognised and was almost lynched by an enraged mob. 6:50 PM: Fighting ends in basement. All terrorists killed. 8:15 PM: School crisis coordination centre reports all the attackers have been suppressed. 9:00 PM: 646 people reported admitted to hospitals, amongst them 227 children. 9:20 PM: Confirmed deaths rise above 200. 79 identified. 9:50 PM: Sporadic fighting continues despite reports that all attackers have been destroyed. Crisis centre reports two attackers have been killed within the last hour. 10:08 PM: Three terrorists reported taken alive. 11:00