Liam Payne's heartbroken fans have staged an impromptu vigil outside the hotel in Argentina where he died

Fans have been seen lighting candles, crying, hugging each other and singing One Direction songs as they mourned the loss on the street outside the hotel.

The singer's death was confirmed by Alberto Crescenti, the head of the state emergency medical system, who revealed the pop star fell into an internal courtyard at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel.

Crescenti stated emergency services were called but they were unable to help him because of the severity of his injuries.

He told Argentina's Todo Noticias TV channel: "A few minutes later [an] emergency team arrived and confirmed the death of this man who we later learned was from a musical group.

"He had injuries incompatible with life as a result of his fall. There was no way to do anything."

The incident is believed to have occurred around 5pm local time.

Liam is said to have jetted to Argentina earlier this month to support his former bandmate Niall Horan, who was performing there. He was seen attending Niall's show with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy, who is believed to have joined the singer on the trip but flew back to the US prior shortly before the tragedy.

In the hours before his death, Liam was active on social media and spoke about his plans for the day in a post on Snapchat, telling his followers: "Today, we ride. We're going to ride some horses. Think I'm going to play polo again, which is going to put me out of action for about six weeks.

"It's so hard to do, number one, my back and my neck from swinging that hammer around ... or mallet, I think it's called if you're in the know. It hurts a lot, it's very tough to do."