One Direction’s Liam Payne dead at 31
Reports say Liam Payne of One Direction was found dead after falling from a third-story balcony.
Liam Payne‘s preliminary cause of death has been revealed.
The National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office No. 16 in Argentina announced in a press release Thursday that the One Direction singer died from “polytrauma” and “internal and external bleeding” after falling from his third-floor balcony of the Casa Sur hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Wednesday.
Authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding his death, they said in the release translated from Spanish to English, but prosecutors believe Payne was alone when the fall occurred.
Prosecutors say that minutes before the death of Payne, one-fifth of the famed British boy band, hotel workers “called the 911 emergency line to ask for help for a guest who was under the influence of drugs and alcohol and who had destroyed some objects in the room.”
Prosecutors said the autopsy was conducted based on five witness statements from three hotel staff members and two women who were with the musician in his room but who say they left the hotel before the singer’s death.
In a previous statement, the capital police added they were called to the hotel in the capital’s Palermo neighborhood where they were notified of an “aggressive man who could be under the effects of drugs and alcohol.”
Buenos Aires police said Payne’s fall resulted in “extremely serious injuries,” and he was confirmed to be dead at the scene, reports The Associated Press. Alberto Crescenti, head of Buenos Aires’ public emergency medical services, confirmed Payne’s death in a statement to local media, per Todo Noticias and La Nacion.
TMZ, that graphic Liam Payne photo and the damage it caused
Payne earned global fame as part of the since-disbanded pop group One Direction, alongside Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson.
This story is developing.
Contributing: KiMI Robinson