The father of One Direction pop singer Liam Payne, whose death in a fall from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires shocked the music world, arrived in Buenos Aires on Friday, police sources told the AFP news agency.
Geoff Payne landed in Buenos Aires at 6am, the source said.
The source did not say whether he would visit the morgue where the body of his son, the 31-year-old member of one of Britain's most successful pop groups of recent years, is being kept pending the results of toxicological tests.
Argentine journalist Mercedes Ninci also confirmed Payne Snr's arrival in Argentina.
"He arrived around half past five in the morning. He will have to examine the body and ask for the repatriation to be speeded up. With him here, it [the process] will be much quicker," she told Radio Mitre.
Reports said Payne Snr is being accompanied by British diplomatic staff.
The late singer's mother Karen, and his sisters Nicola and Ruth, are not believed to have travelled.
'Semi or total unconsciousness'
Payne suffered "multiple traumas" and "internal and external haemorrhaging" after falling from the balcony of his room on the third floor of the Casa Sur hotel in the Palmero neighbourhood of Buenos Aires on Wednesday night, an autopsy found.
The autopsy suggested he had not tried to stop his fall and may have been in a state of "semi or total unconsciousness" before his death.
The singer, who had spoken publicly about struggles with alcohol and coping with fame from an early age, was alone at the time and appeared to be "going through an episode of substance abuse," prosecutors said.
He was found dead after hotel staff called emergency services twice to report "a guest who is overwhelmed by drugs and alcohol, and destroying his room," according to leaked audio.
Tributes
Tributes to the singer have been pouring in since Wednesday.
His former One Direction bandmates, Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik, said they were "completely devastated" by his death.
Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC also offered their condolences, as did British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Payne was in Argentina to attend a concert by Niall Horan.
Local media outlets published photos which they said showed the interior of his hotel room, with white powder on a table next to a piece of aluminum foil and a lighter, and a television with a broken screen.
Fans have left a mound of letters, flowers and pictures of the singer at a makeshift shrine to him outside the hotel in Palermo district.
"I feel like it's a part of adolescence lost," said Lena Duek, 21.
Payne is the father of a seven-year-old boy, Bear, shared with Girls Aloud star Cheryl Tweedy.
– TIMES/AFP
