British singer Liam Payne, a former member of the best-selling boy band One Direction, died Wednesday aged 31 after plunging from the third floor of a Buenos Aires hotel, police and emergency responders said.
It was not immediately clear if the fall was accidental. Payne had spoken publicly about struggles with alcohol, and police said they responded to a report of "an aggressive man who may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol."
Minutes after the news of Payne's death broke, distraught fans -- most in their 20s and 30s -- gathered near the scene in the Argentine capital, where medical teams were at work.
"The news hit me hard," fan Pilar Bilik, 27, said outside the hotel.
"So upsetting to hear the news of Liam Payne passing. Sending love and condolences to his family & loved ones. RIP my friend," reality star and businesswoman Paris Hilton wrote on social media with a crying emoji.
Police said in a statement that "Liam James Payne, composer and guitarist, former member of the band One Direction, died today after falling from the third floor of a hotel."
Alberto Crescenti, head of the Buenos Aires emergency medical service, told local television that there had been "no possibility of resuscitation."
Crescenti said emergency personnel rushed to the Casa Sur hotel in the city's Palermo neighborhood after an emergency call was made at 5:04 pm local time (2004 GMT).
They arrived seven minutes later and "verified the death of this man, who we later learnt was a singer."
Payne appeared to have suffered a fracture at the base of his skull from the fall that Crescenti said was from "about 13 or 14 meters" (about 43-46 feet).
The UK's foreign office confirmed it was in contact with Argentine authorities "regarding reports of the death of a British man", but declined to identify the man or comment further.
