Payne was pronounced dead on Oct. 16 after falling multiple stories at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, local police confirmed to PEOPLE:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)/Liam-Payne-Obit--24-01122018-b3dd3cd3ee604f429f9558fa982f5396.jpg)
Liam Payne’s cause of death may have been due to a fractured skull he sustained after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina.
In a statement translated from Spanish, Alberto Crescenti (the head of SAME, Buenos Aires’ public emergency medical services system) told Argentine news channel TN that Payne fell into the hotel’s internal courtyard and had sustained “very serious injuries” during the fall.
“According to what the team saw, he had fractured the base of his skull,” Crescenti told the outlet.
He told the outlet that SAME had been alerted to an incident at around 5 p.m. of a “person who was in the internal patio of the CasaSur hotel.” He said when they arrived, they found the man — later identified to be the One Direction singer — dead. “He had injuries incompatible with life as a result of his fall,” Crescenti continued to TN, adding, “There was no way to do anything.”
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He said that Payne, who was 31, fell from the third floor to the internal patio of the hotel where he was staying, and noted that the distance of the fall could have been between 13-14 meters (or approximately between 43 ft.-45 ft.).
Crescenti said that an autopsy is being carried out to determine Payne’s official cause of death and that investigators were still trying to figure out the details of what happened leading up to his death.
In a transcript of the 911 call from the CasaSur Palermo hotel to first responders, obtained by NBC News, a person informed them about a “guest” at the hotel who they presumed was “under the influence of alcohol and drugs” and was damaging a room at the hotel.
“We have a guest who is overindulged in drugs and alcohol and … Well, when he is conscious he breaks, he is breaking the whole room. Well, we need you to send someone, please,” the caller said.
In further audio obtained by Telemundo and NBC News, the caller said, “The guest is in a room that has a balcony and, well, we are a little afraid that he might do something life-threatening,” and added that the guest had been at the hotel for two to three days.
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Policía Federal Argentina confirmed to PEOPLE on Wednesday, Oct. 16, that Payne was pronounced dead after falling multiple stories at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, and that an investigation is currently underway to determine the circumstances surrounding his death.
Payne had been in Argentina since at least early this month, when he attended the Oct. 2 concert of his former One Direction bandmate, Niall Horan, at the Movistar Arena in Buenos Aires with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy.
The singer is survived by his 7-year-old son Bear Grey, whom he shares with his ex, Girls Aloud singer Cheryl.