Valen Iricibar: Buenos Aires Herald editor on former One Direction star Liam Payne dying after balcony fall

Argentinian authorities say people shouldn't speculate about the death of former One Direction star Liam Payne. 

The 31-year-old has died after a fall at a hotel in Buenos Aires

He's famous for appearing in the Brit boy band on X-Factor aged 16, then developing a solo career.

Buenos Aires Herald Editor Valen Iricibar says an autopsy will reveal more. 

"On the ground, they've very much been saying - look, we don't know if there was a third person, we don't know if he simply fell, we can't rule out if this was on purpose."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Heller duper see Allen right well, thirty one year old
li And Payne, the former member of the boy band
One Direction, has died after falling from the third floor
of an Argentinian hotel. Police they were called to the
Cassasseur hotel in Bonos Aires about five o'clock as in
five pm local time. They had received a call about
an aggressive man who may have been under the effects
of drugs and alcohol in the inner courtyard of the hotel,

(00:21):
and when they arrived they heard a loud sound coming
from there and then they discovered the body. Vellen Irisibar
is an editor at Bonos Aidre's herald Hi Vallen, Hello,
how about you had that? I'm very well, thank you. Now,
look when we say that he was acting aggressively, do
we know what was going on? No?

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Not really. Unfortunately, that's about the extent of the details
that we have from the police reports, from what hotel
staff were reporting to the police. We haven't had confirmation
as to because we don't have the autopsy yet, and
actually city authorities are warning against jumping to any conclusions
before we get the autopsy back. But yes, it's very
much he may have been under the influence of drugs

(01:01):
or alcohol, and he was acting aggressively, but that's about
the extent of it, I'm afraid.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
So he was there because apparently he'd come to see
his former bandmate Niall Horan's show ed he sort of
hung around afterwards or was everybody still there?

Speaker 2 (01:16):
So he was hanging around afterwards he was, I mean,
he was publishing things to his snapchat, you know, I
think an hour and a half before this happened. And
that's the you know, that's what we understand why he was.
Hotel staff reported to police that he checked in alone
to the hotel on October tenth, and that's as far
as we as we have as well. I mean sorry

(01:38):
if I can't say, you know, one way or the other,
this is very much what we've been able to verify.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
So only early stage I realized. Now I know that
we've been warned against jumping to conclusions, but people are
jumping to conclusions about the fact that there was a
seasoned to disorder that his partner had issued him last week.
Do we know if this had anything to do with it.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
We don't. I have mean, I will say, obviously I'm
not as tight left all that I have seen. Obviously,
the conjectures in the room is about you know, the
fact that he was under you know, the influence of
something allegedly. I have seen these court orders as not frankly,
not a directioner. It's not something that I had been
following particularly closely. But I have seen those rumors going
around and conjectures going around. But when I've asked emergency services,

(02:18):
the police and other people on the ground, they've very
much been saying, look, we don't know if it was
a third person, we don't know if he's fell. We
we can't roll out if this was you know, on purpose,
It's very much all up in the air as of now.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Speaking of the direction, as I imagine, there are quite
a few fans already at the hotel Yam.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yes, there's several I think, you know, I've been talking
to people on the ground. I haven't made my way
over just yet, but there was a lot of it.
First of all, it was cordoned off. The street has
been cordoned off, and yes there are some fans from
you know, there were about fifty people, but there was
a lot of journalists' presence really there, you know, some
lighting candles, some fans lighting cans. But I suspect there's

(03:02):
probably going to be some sort of event afterwards, and
maybe not necessarily outside the hotel. At least that's what
we believe is journalist, you know, it seems to be
more of a dry event going out going on outside
the hotel currently.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
Yeah, Hey Vallen, thanks for talking us. I'd appreciate. It's
Valain Risiba, who's an editor ed Buenos AIDA's Herald. For
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