Liam Payne fans have been left enraged after a social media account shared distressing images of his body.

The late singer tragically died aged 31 on Wednesday, October 16, after falling from the third floor of his hotel room in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Emergency services confirmed that the Teardrops singer sadly died instantly after suffering catastrophic injuries from his fall.

But after the images of Liam appeared on X, formerly known as Twitter, his fans have launched a campaign to have the account, which the Mirror has chosen not to name – removed from the microblogging platform. The images showed Liam moments after his death in the inner courtyard of the Casa Sur Hotel in the Argentinian capital.

Fans of the musician have now hit out, demanding the account is taken down by Elon Musk and his team. One fan penned: “You’re f***ing sick, piece of s***t.” “Reporting!!!! That’s actually horrific,” said a second. A third commented: “Please report this freak [redacted], they posted pictures of Liam’s body but deleted them now. Report them. DO NOT interact with them.”

Another went on to write: “You’re posting awful pictures. his son may see those in a few years and be traumatised for life. You f***er.” A fifth devastated fan tweeted: “Go report [redacted], he posted pictures of Liam’s body, seriously don’t look, just report, it’s shocking.” “Go and REPORT this account!!! [redacted], it’s inhumane to post such a photo.”

American gossip site TMZ had previously come under fire for sharing less distressing images of Liam. They claimed that they made the decision to publish the images in order to identify the Wolverhampton-born superstar, before the police confirmed his identity. Despite the criticism, TMZ executive producer Michael Babcock said there “was balance”.

Speaking on Fox 5 New York, Babcock said: “There’s a balance, and that’s obviously a conversation that newsrooms across the world have – you want to be sensitive to the family and to the friends and also while working a news story. When the information was coming in, police had not yet confirmed that it was Liam, so what was done on the TMZ website, there was an image – did not show the full image, didn’t show his face – but that showed his arm and his abdomen, where he has some very recognisable tattoos, so that’s sort of used as a way to confirm, or to match up the tattoos at a point where police had not yet confirmed his identity. And then, once they did, obviously, that photo was removed.

“I mean, it’s just a terribly horrific and sad story. It’s something obviously that shouldn’t have happened, and this guy had so much life left to live and you feel horrible for everybody.” It comes after Liam’s ex, Cheryl Tweedy previously hit out at the “abhorrent” reports by gossip sites.

Taking to Instagram, she penned: “Liam was not only a pop star and celebrity, he was a son, a brother, an uncle, a dear friend and a father to our 7 year old son. A son that now has to face the reality of never seeing his father again. What is troubling my spirit the most is that one day Bear will have access to the abhorrent reports and media exploitation we have seen in the past few days.|

Officials in the Argentine capital have said “everything indicates” the former One Direction star was alone when he died and an investigation has been launched into the tragedy.

Police retrieved Liam’s phone in the immediate aftermath of his death, and the device will play a key role in understanding what happened to Liam in the moments before his death. A source close to the investigation told The Sun that the circumstances in the run-up to his fatal fall are “suspicious”, and authorities are looking for a possible drug dealer who could have supplied the singer with “illegal substances”.

It’s believed that Liam fell from around 13 or 14 metres and suffered “very serious injuries incompatible with life.” While City ambulance service provider spokesman Alberto Crescenti said he had fallen around 40 metres and suffered “severe injuries which were incompatible with life.”