The 31-year-old British musician was a vocalist for the U.K. pop band, along with Niall Horan, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. The band is on hiatus.

Liam Payne, a member of the British pop band One Direction, died Wednesday at age 31 after he fell from the third floor of a hotel in Argentina, local authorities said.

Sistema de Atencion Medica de Emergencia, the emergency health service, said in a statement to Telemundo, NBC News’ Spanish-language sister network, that Payne fell from the balcony in Palermo.

Police “were directed to the hotel by a 911 call reporting an aggressive man,” said the emergency services agency. It did not say whether drugs or alcohol were involved, just that the 911 call reported that could be the case.

  • TimeSquirrel
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    1919 hours ago

    As someone with acrophobia, this justifies my fear of balconies and railings over 1 story tall. I don’t understand humans’ architectural obsession with giant voids and heights. I’m the kinda person who’s asshole puckers up looking at a two story mall ceiling.

    • @[email protected]
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      16 hours ago

      Humans tend to be pretty good at not falling. This is coming from someone who spent their teenage years and early 20s smoking on the roof. (European style appartment roofs that are closed to access and sloped without railings).

      Though I was also a mountain climber so maybe I’ve been desensitised to heights ;).

    • @[email protected]
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      818 hours ago

      Movies make it look like you can shrug off a fall from a 1 story building and just keep running. But wow, is that not true. There are instances of people surviving a lot more, but 1-2 stories is enough to kill much of the time.

      • @[email protected]
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        19 hours ago

        Actually, most falling deaths/injuries occur from, like, 6’ or lower. I’m sure a lot of that has to do with older people.

      • @[email protected]
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        112 hours ago

        There’s instances of people dying just tripping over something and landing wrong, we are not a sturdy species physically

      • @[email protected]
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        215 hours ago

        People can get seriously hurt falling down a chair, or on their head from just standing upright.

      • TimeSquirrel
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        217 hours ago

        That’s just my limit to where I start getting heebie jeebies. About 15-20 feet or so.

        • @[email protected]
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          317 hours ago

          It’s a healthy reflex up to a point. Your body doesn’t want to fall. But if it’s causing you daily anxiety that’s going a little too far. Stress is not healthy either.

    • VindictiveJudge
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      918 hours ago

      Most railings I’ve seen really need to be higher. If the top isn’t higher than your center of gravity, there’s very little preventing you from going over.

    • @[email protected]
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      319 hours ago

      all humans have an instinct to avoid falling off cliffs. even blind infants.

      voids and heights are the ultimate physical luxury, and great for your mental health.