By Tom Decent
Buenos Aires: It’s not the kind of notification you expect to see pop up on your phone. Liam Payne’s unexpected death at a Buenos Aires hotel would have always surprised me, but particularly so today given I was nearby enjoying the final stretch of my annual leave in Argentina.
Initial reports said the former One Direction star had died after falling from the third floor of the Casa Sur Hotel, just after 5pm local time. It was bizarre to read those words on my phone while sitting on the balcony of a nearby Palermo hotel with my fiancée.
Police restrain fans gathering outside the hotel.Credit: AP
With a late dinner booking and some time to kill, I decided to wander down and check out what was going on. As I turned a corner, there were hundreds of onlookers camped outside the four-star hotel as police and other officials blocked the road. Dozens of journalists were preparing live crosses, while photographers tried to get shots of men in white bodysuits walking into the nondescript hotel lobby.
Then there were the fans, mostly adolescents, who had raced to the hotel wearing all kinds of old One Direction shirts.
Payne’s body was eventually brought through a stylish, empty bar inside the hotel, then through a large white door onto the street, before being wheeled into a red vehicle with the words “BOMBEROS DE LA CIUDAD” on its side (City Firefighters). Police did well to block the view for fans and photographers hoping to catch one last glimpse.
Fans light candles outside the hotel where Payne fell to his death. Credit: AP
As the vehicle sped off with its sirens on, onlookers started clapping in the same way some travellers do when a pilot pulls off a smooth landing. It was a moving, impromptu final standing ovation for a young man and born performer whose life had been cut short.
Part of the media scrum in the wake of Payne’s death.Credit: Tom Decent
That’s when the tears really began. Teenage girls sobbed. Their emotion was real. The realisation that a major music industry star had died at age 31 really hit home to those there – except the four young men playing a game of padel across the road from the hotel, who couldn’t care less.
This was, for the most part, perfect fodder for television reporters, who rounded up as many teenage girls in tears as they could. Why did they love Payne so much? One girl was inconsolable, after her 60 seconds of fame for a television interview, as friends hugged her tight. There was also a candlelight vigil to pay respects to a talented artist who’d spent more than half his life in the public eye.
Mourners pressed up against the window of the hotel to catch a glimpse of police and detectives going about their work. It didn’t take long for security to put boards up, which didn’t really stop people peering through windows. Some hotel guests even tried to check out, eager to stay somewhere else for the night.
Fans console each other as they process the news. Credit: Getty Images
Just after 9pm local time, the road in front of the hotel was reopened. One Argentinian man wound down his window and asked a television reporter what the commotion was all about. “Liam Payne. One Direction. Dead,” the reporter replied.
Taken aback, the driver shook his head and uttered just two words: “So sad.”
Support is available from Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 and Lifeline on 13 11 14.