Liam Payne death latest: Hotel’s panicked call to police before One Direction star fell from balcony released

One Direction star Liam Payne has died suddenly aged 31, after falling from a hotel balcony in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Local authorities have said they will conduct an autopsy and investigate the circumstances surrounding the singer’s death .

A hotel worker made a distressed call to police shortly before his death , it has emerged, in which they said a guest was “destroying everything in his room” and appeared to be “on drugs and alcohol”.

Workers reportedly heard a loud sound in the courtyard before Payne’s body was discovered just after 5pm local time (9pm UK time).

Stars including Liam Gallagher , X Factor host Dermot O’Leary and TV presenter and former contestant Rylan are among those to have paid tribute. Anne Twist, the mother of Payne’s former bandmate Harry Styles, wrote on Instagram: “Just a boy.”

Payne rose to fame while competing on season five of The X Factor in 2010, when he was placed in the band One Direction along with Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik.

They went on to become one of the world’s most successful boybands , selling 70 million records and performing in stadiums around the world.

Payne had a son, born in 2017, with former Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Tweedy.