A 26-year-old Australian woman who died in Bali after police found her lying next to a crashed scooter is being remembered by family and friends as a beautiful “ray of sunshine”.

Ella Knights died a week after she posted a video to Instagram of herself on the back of a scooter driven by a friend with the caption “sorry mum #nohelmet”.


The 26-year-old was found by a passer-by lying face down in a gutter in Canggu, North Kuta about 3am on Thursday.


North Kuta traffic police chief Putu Wiratma said Ms Knights was found face-down in a drainage ditch, with her nose and mouth submerged under a small amount of water.

A Honda scooter was found lying on its side nearby, the engine still running.

“The distance between the bike and the woman was around two metres,” Badung Precinct Traffic Police Chief Raka Wiratma told AAP.

The Sydney resident had spent the previous 10 weeks travelling the world and was due to fly home on Monday.

She’d documented her travels through India and Indonesia on social media and met up with a number of friends and relatives including her mother Kaz Knights.


The young Australian also recently graduated from a 200-hour yoga teacher course in Goa.
”@ellaknights love you, miss you already my little ray of sunshine,” friend @littlegreenthumb posted on Instagram.


The pair were pictured in a Bali pool together on Ms Knight’s Instagram account earlier this week.


Alyssa Johnson, who travelled and studied yoga with Ms Knight, also posted a heartfelt tribute.


”Less than two days ago, we talked on the phone for an hour, swearing we’d never again work just to get by because life is too short and we have too many places to go and hardly any time to waste living average lives,” Ms Johnson said in an Instagram post on Friday.


“But we were supposed to do it together.


“I guess your energy was needed somewhere else more than here. I’ll see you later, beautiful.

“
She was taken to a nearby medical clinic soon after police arrived but was pronounced dead shortly after and taken to hospital,” she said.

Mr Wiratma said that according to witnesses “(she) was riding the bike alone and not wearing (a) helmet”.

The ABC reports it appeared Ms Knights was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash but it may not have been correctly fastened, as it was found some distance from her body.

“We suspect the victim was out of control,” Mr Wiratma said.

The death has been reported to the Australian consulate.

Police are waiting on an autopsy for a definite cause of death.

The woman suffered bruises and wounds all over her face, said Dr Ida Alit, head of forensics at Sanglah Hospital.

— with ABC/AAP