British singer Liam Payne, former member of the group One Direction, died on Wednesday October 16 at the age of 31 after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Argentina, Buenos Aires police announced.
Minutes after the news was announced, distraught supporters and spectators gathered near the scene in the Argentine capital, where medical teams were still at work.
“Liam James Payne, composer and guitarist, former member of the group One Direction, died today after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Palermo,” police said in a statement.
The singer suffered “very serious injuries incompatible with life following his fall,” the head of the city’s SAME emergency medical service, Alberto Crescenti, told local television, adding “that he there was no possibility of resuscitation.”
Crescenti said emergency personnel rushed to the Casa Sur hotel in the Palermo neighborhood after a 911 call was made at 5:04 p.m. local time. They arrived seven minutes later and “found the death of this man, who we later learned was a singer”.
Payne appeared to have suffered a fracture to the base of his skull following a fall, according to Crescenti, from a height “about 13 or 14 meters” (about 43 to 46 feet).
Boy band sensation One Direction emerged in 2010 when teenagers Payne, Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik appeared on a British TV show. The X factor.
In 2016, the group announced an indefinite hiatus, but did not disband.
Payne announced that he was working on a solo album that same year, following in the footsteps of other band members.
