According to early autopsy results, former One Direction vocalist Liam Payne died from several injuries he incurred in his fall, which resulted in “internal and external haemorrhaging.”
The 31-year-old British vocalist tragically ended his life yesterday afternoon by leaping from the third floor of the Casa Sur Hotel in Argentina’s capital city. Medical professionals subsequently confirmed his passing.
Two forensic pathologists, named locally as Santiago Maffia Bizzozero and Victor Roberto Cohen, reached the conclusions during a post-mortem today in Buenos Aires.
Further tests are now taking place to see if the singer had consumed drugs and alcohol which could have played a contributing factor in the Brit’s death.
The autopsy took place at a city morgue in Viamonte Street a 15-minute drive south-west of Hotel CasaSur Palermo, the hotel where the pop star plunged from a third-floor balcony yesterday around 5pm local time.
Liam’s body was taken last night to the morgue, where post-mortems following deaths in the city centre traditionally take place.
Alberto Crescenti, a director of emergency medical response service SAME, had earlier revealed the injuries Liam sustained in the fall included a fractured skull.
‘According to the emergency medical team sent to the scene he had a fracture in the base of his skull, extremely serious injuries,’ Mr Crescenti said.
He also told TN television that Payne was dead when paramedics arrived, adding: ‘Our role was to head there quickly, give medical attention, and try to resuscitate him, but his injuries were incompatible with life.’
Payne’s identity was confirmed by emergency services by checking his passport, but police do not yet have conclusive evidence regarding the circumstances of his fall.
The singer fell from a third-floor suite with a balcony overlooking an interior pool and the hotel’s on-site Michelin-star restaurant where he landed in the courtyard.
Police in forensic suits were minutely examining the room and its balcony late last night after their colleagues below erected a red tent on the spot where Payne died.
The patio where he died is next to the swimming pool and is also the site for outdoor tables at the hotel’s plant-based Sarco restaurant. No diners were there at the time, because Sacro closes after lunch at 4pm before reopening for dinner at 7.30pm.
Payne had arrived in Argentina earlier this month for his ex-bandmate Niall Horan’s concert with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy. She left two days ago, but he stayed on.
Around the same time, his ex-fiancée Maya Henry instructed lawyers to issue Payne with a cease and desist letter after accusing him of repeatedly contacting her.
Payne rose to stardom at age 16 after forming the boy band One Direction on The X Factor in 2010 alongside Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Harry Styles .