On October 16, 2024, former One Direction star Liam Payne suddenly died after falling over the balcony of his third-floor hotel room in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The British singer visited Argentina to attend Niall Horan’s concert earlier that month.
TMZ covered the incident not long after the accident, reporting the police presence at the hotel and the ambulance escorting his body to the nearby hospital morgue. Witnesses at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel told TMZ it was Liam Payne before officials could confirm the artist’s identity.
A 911 call was uncovered in which hotel management reported a disruptive guest, seemingly under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and expressed concern about his room’s balcony. The guest was reported for his misbehavior and breaking hotel property. We learned shortly afterward that the guest was Liam Payne.
An investigation was opened into his death, where city authorities found alcohol and other substances in his hotel room. ABC News reports that Payne had multiple drugs in his body at the time of his death, including crack, cocaine, benzodiazepine and “pink cocaine,” a drug that is typically a mix of methamphetamine, ketamine, MDMA and other substances. Today News announced Payne’s autopsy report was shared with them by the Argentina National Prosecutor’s Office, declaring he died from “polytrauma and internal and external bleeding”. Payne’s father has arrived in Buenos Aires, where legally a family member needs to confirm the body’s identity before it is released back to the United Kingdom.
Fans all over the world have expressed their deepest sorrows over his sudden death. While celebrities and other artists have written Instagram posts mourning the late artist, fans awaited responses from other One Direction members. Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and the One Direction Instagram page broke their silence to express their heartbreak and sympathies for Payne’s family.
Payne left behind a 7-year-old son, a family, friends, and millions of fans. Fans have gathered at vigils around the world – from London to Manila – to grieve, sing, and cry in memory of the former One Direction star. The BBC reports that police estimated that between 800 and 1,000 people gathered in London’s Hyde Park on Sunday to remember the 31-year-old who died after falling from the third floor of a hotel balcony in Argentina. The crowd sang One Direction songs, such as the chart-topping hit What Makes You Beautiful, with many fans in tears.
The investigation into Payne’s death is still ongoing.
