Three have been charged with the singer’s death

Three people have been charged over the death of One Direction star Liam Payne, authorities in Argentina have said.

The singer died on October 16 after falling from the third floor balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires.

Prosecutors in Argentina said one person accompanying the artist was charged with desertion followed by death and supplying and facilitating drugs.

A hotel employee and a third party were also charged with supplying drugs. None of those arrested have been named.

Payne, 31, became one of pop’s biggest names after appearing on The X Factor and rising to fame with boy band One Direction in the 2010s.

Argentine authorities were investigating Payne’s last days at the CasaSur hotel.

The public prosecutor’s office said a toxicology test revealed traces of alcohol, cocaine and antidepressants in his body.

An autopsy determined the cause of his death as “multiple blunt force trauma” and “internal and external bleeding” from a fall from the hotel balcony.

In addition the authorities carried out nine home raids in Buenos Aires.

They are still investigating Payne’s broken laptop and other seized equipment.