Newly released audio details a frantic scene in the moments leading up to One Direction star Liam Payne’s deadly plunge from the third floor of a hotel in Argentina.
The UK Sun, The Associated Press and Argentinian outlet La Nacion translated an emergency call made by the manager of the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires in which the person could be heard saying a guest was “overwhelmed with drugs and alcohol” and “putting his life at risk.”
“Hello, good morning. I just called and my line got disconnected. I’m calling (from) the CasaSur hotel in Palermo, Costa Rica 6032,” the manager named “Esteban” said.
“We have a guest who is (allegedly) high and drunk; and when he is conscious, he is destroying his room and we need you to send someone, please. We need you to send someone urgently because I don’t know if his life is in danger,” he said.
“They must be in a room that has a balcony. And well, we’re a little bit worried he’ll do something, that he’ll put his life at risk,” he said.
The manager went on to say that Payne had been a guest “for the past three days.”
When “Esteban” was asked if police would be dispatched as well, he quickly said that emergency services only need to send “SAME,” which is Argentina’s name for paramedics.
Several witnesses told TMZ that in the leadup to the call the 31-year-old singer had been “acting erratic” in the hotel lobby earlier in the afternoon.
Payne reportedly “smashed his laptop, and had to be carried back to his room.”
By the time medical personnel arrived, Payne’s body was on the ground outside the hotel with La Nacion reporting that “a bottle of whiskey, a lighter and a cellphone” were also found at the scene.
Pablo Policicchio, the communications director for the Buenos Aires Security Ministry, said in a statement to The Associated Press that Payne “had jumped from the balcony of his room.”
Medics confirmed that Payne, who had been in Argentina for several weeks, suffered “very serious injuries” and died instantly, police said in a statement.
“Our role was to head there quickly, give medical attention, and try to resuscitate him, but his injuries were incompatible with life,” one medic said, according to La Nacion (per the New York Post).
“Based on what the team saw, there was apparently a cranial fracture and extremely serious injuries that led to his immediate death.”
In the hours following the incident, fans combed through Payne’s social media posts. In a series of videos shared to his Snapchat on Wednesday, the father of one appeared normal and said he was “having a lovely day” in Argentina. He also shared a video with his girlfriend, social media influencer Kate Cassidy, who had returned to the U.S. just two days before his death.
But unverified photos taken of his alleged room showed a chaotic scene with a smashed television and discarded foil and a white powder, which police will test to see if it is cocaine, La Nacion reported.
As news of his death left One Direction fans in shock, TMZ published photos of Payne’s body on the ground that were cropped to show only the singer’s arms and waist. TMZ removed the photos from its article, but added in a statement: “TMZ has seen a photo showing Liam’s body on the deck at the hotel with tables and chairs nearby. You can clearly see his tattoos — a clock on his left forearm, and a scorpion on his abdomen — which helped us confirm early reports from witnesses.”
The publication of the photos, which circulated widely on X, was met with swift backlash. Canadian singer Alessia Cara wrote, “You’re gross @TMZ.”
“TMZ posting part of a photo of Liam Payne’s dead body in an article announcing his death is beyond deplorable,” one fan added. “I can’t tell if I’m losing my mind lately or if society has always been this overtly morally decrepit.”
According to the Daily Mail, “police do not yet have conclusive evidence regarding the circumstances of his fall.”
But in the leadup to his death, Payne was reportedly “struggling with issues related to his ex-fiancee, Maya Henry.”
A source told PEOPLE that Payne “was extremely overwhelmed by all of the legal issues.”
According to the Daily Mail, Payne was hit with a cease-and-desist order last week after he repeatedly tried to contact Henry.
After auditioning for The X Factor as a young teenager in 2008, producer Simon Cowell tapped Payne and four other failed contestants from the show — Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson — to form One Direction in 2010.
Malik left the band in 2015, the same year they released their fifth, and most recent studio album, Made in the A.M. The band went on indefinite hiatus in 2016, with the group’s members all embarking on solo careers.
Payne released the EP First Time in 2018, and his 18-song studio album, LP1, the following year.
Speaking to Stephen Bartlett on The Diary Of The CEO podcast in 2021, Payne was open about his struggle with substance abuse and the pressures of fame.
“I was worried how far my rock bottom was going to be. Where’s rock bottom for me?” he said. “It feels to me, like when we were in the band. The best way to secure us was to lock us in our rooms, and what is in the room? A mini-bar. So I had a party-for-one that seemed to carry on for many years of my life, and then you look back at how long you’ve been drinking? And Jesus Christ that’s a long time, even for someone as young as I am.”