Liam Payne died aged 31 after falling from a hotel room in Buenos Aires

Liam Payne is dead after falling from his hotel balcony in Argentina … TMZ has learned.

The former One Direction singer died on Wednesday evening. Several witnesses at the hotel where he was staying in Buenos Aires told us that Liam fell from his room on the third floor of the CasaSur Palermo Hotel. We don't know if it was intentional or coincidental.

TMZ obtained a photo showing Liam's body on a wooden deck at the hotel with tables and chairs nearby. We don't show the whole body, but you can clearly see his tattoos – a clock on his left forearm and a scorpion on his stomach.

Witnesses say this happened just after 5pm in Buenos Aires… and that Liam had previously behaved erratically in the hotel lobby – he smashed his laptop and had to be carried back to his room.

Police and other first responders are now all over the hotel… and authorities have set up a red tent over the body as they begin their investigation into Liam's death.

He had recently been in Argentina for a week Niall Horan concert earlier this month, and the 1D bandmates actually reunited at the show.

Liam was just 16 when he joined One Direction… and the group became the biggest boy band in the world after breaking out on The X Factor in 2010. The band eventually broke up in 2015 and he was considered one of their key songwriters.

As we reported … Liam revealed in June 2021 that at one point while One Direction was on tour, he struggled with alcohol and medication addictions and things got so bad that he had “severe” suicidal thoughts.

Earlier this week there were reports of Liam's ex-fiancée Maya Henry claiming he dumped her after asking her to have an abortion. Her lawyers had tried to send him a cease and desist letter to stop contact with her.

It is currently unclear whether this was the trigger for his erratic behavior in the hotel.

Liam was only 31.