An emergency call from hotel staff to Buenos Aires police has provided more details into the death of Liam Payne, the One Direction singer who died Wednesday at the age of 31 after falling from his hotel balcony in Argentina.
According to the emergency call obtained by CNN’s Argentine affiliate Todo Noticias, hotel staff called police and asked for immediate assistance for “a guest who is overwhelmed with drugs and alcohol” at around 5 p.m. local time, shortly before Payne’s death.
“He breaks things up. He is tearing the whole room apart,” the hotel employee told the emergency operator, adding that because the third-story room also had a balcony, “We’re a little afraid that he’ll do something.”
The hotel employee also told police that while Payne had checked into the CasaSur Hotel in the Palermo neighborhood days earlier, they hadn’t been able to gain access into his room since then, TMZ adds. Police were ultimately dispatched to the hotel, but Payne had already fallen to his death by the time they arrived.
In the hours prior to his death, Payne’s social media accounts were active and posting content from the singer’s trip to Buenos Aires, including one Snapchat where he said he was having “a lovely day in Argentina” as well as selfies with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy, but it’s remains unclear when the photos were actually taken and if Payne posted them himself.
The city’s medical emergency agency, SAME, also confirmed Payne’s death to Rolling Stone’s Argentina bureau. SAME’s Director Alberto Crescenti told the local press that the artist fell from “about 13 or 14 meters,” and that Payne “suffered severe injuries incompatible with life.”
Earlier this month, Payne was spotted taking photos with fans at Movistar Arena in Buenos Aires, where his One Direction bandmate Niall Horan was performing. The two One Direction members reunited there as well. “It’s been a while since me and Niall have spoken. We’ve got a lot to talk about,” he said in a Snapchat video before going to Argentina. “And I would like to square up a couple of things with the boy. No bad vibes or anything like that. But just, um, we need to talk.”
Payne had previously opened up about his struggles with substance abuse. Last year, he went on Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast and revealed that he checked into a sobriety treatment program for 100 days.
