Liam Payne was reportedly acting erratically and had to be escorted back to his hotel room before he plunged to his death.
The former One Direction star, 31, yesterday fell from the third floor of the Casa Sur Palmero hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Police in Buenos Aires last night said they were initially responding to a 911 call ‘of an aggressive man who may have been under the effects of drugs and alcohol’.
Officials heard a loud sound in the courtyard before discovering his body just after 5pm, reported the BBC.
According to TMZ, Liam ‘had been acting erratic in the hotel lobby and smashed his laptop’ before he ‘had to be carried back to his room’.
Police had received a call from a worker at the hotel requesting urgent help with an intoxicated guest, according to audio related to the case obtained from the Buenos Aires security ministry.
‘When he is conscious he is destroying the entire room and we need you to send someone,’ the worker said.
Emergency medical services director Alberto Crescenti said Liam had suffered ‘very serious injuries after falling from a third floor into an internal courtyard’.
‘We verified his identity using the passport he had,’ he said.
Mr Crescenti told Argentine newspaper Clarin that ‘the team saw that he apparently had a fracture at the base of the skull’.
His body was transported to a local morgue where a post-mortem examination will be carried out.
Unverified pictures have since emerged online claiming to be Liam’s hotel room completely trashed with one image showing a smashed television screen.
Last night tearful fans hugged each other as they gathered and lit candles outside the hotel where Liam’s body was found.
One woman could be seen sitting on the pavement with her head in between her knees.
The Foreign Office confirmed it is contact with authorities in Argentina ‘regarding reports of the death of a British man’.
TV presenter Dermot O’Leary said Liam’s death was the ‘worst news’.
Alongside a photo of O’Leary and Payne standing on stage together, he wrote on Instagram: ‘The worst news. I remember him as a 14-year-old turning up to audition on The X Factor, and blowing us away singing Sinatra. He just loved to sing.
‘He was always a joy, had time for everyone, polite, grateful, and was always humble.’
Liam had arrived in the Latin American country earlier this month to attend his ex bandmate Niall Horan’s concert.
Emergency medical services director Mr Crescenti said Mr Payne had fallen around 40metres and suffered ‘severe injuries which were incompatible with life.’
He said: ‘The alarm was raised at 5.04pm local time saying a person was lying in an internal patio at Casa Sur.
‘At 5.11pm an ambulance arrived and the man was certified dead.
‘Afterwards we found out he had been a famous singer. Unfortunately the injuries he had suffered as a result of the fall proved to be fatal. There was no possibility of resuscitating him.’
The star’s final Snapchat post showed him happily posing with his partner Kate Cassidy as they looked into a mirror – a picture which was originally taken last August.
Further posts from the final moments of the star’s life showed him enjoying lunch in his hotel room, where he revealed the pair had been ‘waking up at 1pm every day’ and deciding on Forest Gump as a Halloween costume.
A further tragic selfie was captioned: ‘Lovely day in Argentina’ before the star shared a photo of his hotel, writing: ‘Happy I got some time away’ followed by a heart emoji.
He shared a further photo with Kate captioned: ‘Quality time.’
His death comes days after his ex-fiancée May Henry started legal proceedings against him.
The Texan model, 23, instructed lawyers to issue a cease and desist letter to the One Direction star after accusing him of repeatedly contacting her.
The brunette beauty also accused Liam of obsessively contacting her friends and family including her mother Azteca Henry.
Liam began his pursuit to stardom when he initially auditioned for X Factor in 2008.
At only 14-years-old Liam impressed judges with his own version of Fly Me To The Moon by Frank Sinatra – but was later eliminated from the show.
However Payne gave his singing career another go auditioning for the competition again in 2010, where he quickly shot to fame as part of One Direction.
