The manager of the hotel Liam Payne was staying at when he died told police he was “breaking everything in the room” in a 911 emergency call.
Former One Direction singer Payne died aged 31 after falling from the third-floor balcony of the CasaSur Hotel in the Palermo area of Buenos Aires in Argentina.
Local police said he fell into the courtyard of the hotel, before medics confirmed his death.
In the call prior to the incident, the hotel’s manager Esteban can be heard telling emergency services “I don’t know if the guest’s life is in danger because he is in a room with balcony”.
The conversation, which was originally in Spanish, starts with the hotel manager saying: “Good morning. I’m calling from Hotel CasaSur Palermo, Costa Rica 6032.”
911 call handler: “What is happening sir?”
Hotel manager: “We have a guest drunk with drugs and alcohol. When he (them, gender not clear in conversation) is conscious he is breaking everything in the room and we need someone sent please.”
911 call handler: “You said alcohol and drugs…”
Hotel manager: “This is correct.”
911 call handler: “You said Costa Rica intersecting where?”
Hotel manager: “Costa Rica 6032.”
911 call handler: “Repeat.”
Hotel manager: “Costa Rica 6032.”
911 call handler: “Hotel, you said? What is the hotel called?”
Hotel manager: “CasaSur Palermo. We need to send someone with urgency because I don’t know if the guest’s life is in danger because he is in a room with balcony, and we are a bit worried he’ll do something that puts his life at risk.”
911 call handler: “How long has he been there? Is it a long-stay hotel?”
Hotel manager: “No, he has been here for the past two or three days.”
911 call handler: “You don’t have any other information because you can’t get in. Right?”
Hotel manager: “No.”
911 call handler: “We are also notifying SAME (Medical Emergency Attention Service).”
Hotel manager: “We are asking you to send someone with urgency because…”
911 call handler: “We are doing that. Any other data to give me. Who are you?”
Hotel manager: “I’m the reception manager.”
911 call handler: “The person in charge, right?”
Hotel manager: “Yes.”
911 call handler: “It has been notified. What is your name, sir?”
Hotel manager: “Esteban.”
911 call handler: “Thanks for calling. Stay on line.”
Hotel manager: “Are you sending police too.”
911 call handler: “Police from the delegation… Let me confirm.”
Hotel manager: “No, no, only SAME, only SAME (Medical Emergency Attention Service).”
911 call handler: “Don’t worry because they have already been notified.”
The recording of the call was released by Argentinian police.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here