Ella Knights was on the holiday of a lifetime.
The 26-year-old advertising and marketing employee, who lived in Pyrmont in Sydney, had been travelling through South East Asia for almost three weeks, and had just become a certified yoga instructor.
Jumping for joy; officially a certified yoga teacher ✔️
A post shared by Ella (@ellaknights) on
About 3am yesterday morning, Ella was found by a passerby lying face down in a gutter in North Kuta after she fell off the scooter she was driving.
Police believe Ella was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.
Badung Precinct Traffic Police Chief Raka Wiratma told AAP she was taken to a nearby medical clinic, but she was declared dead by doctors and her body was taken to a hospital.
Just a week before her death, Ella posted a video to her Instagram account apologising to her mum for not wearing a helmet while riding on a scooter around Bali.
Yeah girl @rhi.zee ???? Sorry mum #nohelmet
A post shared by Ella (@ellaknights) on
Police are awaiting the results of an autopsy to confirm her cause of death.
Instagram messages between the man who is believed to have found Ella’s body and her family show their desperate pleas to know what had happened to her after the accident.
On Neal Price’s Instagram – who was tagged in Ella’s last photo before her death – a man claimed that he had found Ella and was trying to contact her family.
“Helloooo…I found your daughter…” the messages read.
Soon afterwards, Neal tried to contact the man, Marcio Soares, on his own Instagram page.
“Hello – im Neal Ella’s friend – has she been hurt? i am desparate to know and also her mother – can you text me? on instageam – Neal (sic).”
Friends have begun flooding Ella's page with tributes and messages of love for the young traveller.
"So sad this has happened to you on your holiday," wrote one friend.
"You touched so many people and brightened so many lives. My teen years were better for having you in them. My heart breaks for your family," said another.
Top Comments
When will people learn? If you don't have a motorbike license...don't rent a motorbike! So many idiot tourists do this when in asia, and sadly that arrogance often costs them their life. My condolences to her family, a very sad, yet preventable loss.
I have a motorcycle licence (and a motorcycle!) so clearly I'm not totally averse to risk, yet I would never ride in Asia. It's just not worth it, for all kinds of reasons.
And wear the damn helmet! Being on holiday doesn't make you invincible.
God, this is so sad, I can't imagine what seeing that video would do to her family.