One Direction star Liam Payne has been found dead after a fall from his hotel balcony in Argentina.

The 31-year-old is said to have fallen from the third floor of the CasaSur Palmero Hotel in Buenos Aires at around 5pm local time on Wednesday - 9pm UK.

News of his death was swift, with the renowned Hollywood gossip site TMZ reporting details of the incident just 90 minutes later alongside unsavoury photos which appeared to show parts of his dead body.

A spokesman for the local ambulance service said: "The alarm was raised at 5.04pm local time saying a person was lying in an internal patio at Casa Sur.

"At 5.11pm an ambulance arrived and the man was certified dead.

"Afterwards we found out he had been a famous singer. Unfortunately the injuries he had suffered as a result of the fall proved to be fatal. There was no possibility of resuscitating him."

Payne shot to fame in 2008 at the age of 14 when he auditioned for The X Factor, before being put together two years later with four other solo singers - Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik - into the band One Direction, which went on to achieve unprecedented world success.

After the group split Payne went on to forge a solo career and also became a father, welcoming son Bear with fellow singer Cheryl Cole in 2017.

Payne is survived by Bear, parents Geoff and Karen, and older sisters Ruth and Nicola.