Australian Tourist In Bali Dies After Falling From 4th Floor Hotel Room

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An Australian tourist died after falling from a 4th-floor hotel balcony in Bali on Wednesday night. An investigation is underway by Kuta Police. The man, identified by local media only by his initials DSJ, was 46 years old and believed to be staying at the hotel alone. 

DSJ checked into The Haven Hotel in Seminyak on the 20th of July and was due to check out on the 25th of July. Eyewitnesses’ accounts shared with local media confirm that the incident happened around 8 pm local time on Wednesday 20th July. 

Eye witness Sara Winata told local news reporters that while she was relaxing on the deck by the hotel’s pool she could hear screaming and banging on the glass from a room on the fourth floor that overlooks the pool area. She alerted the hotel’s security team who were standing at their post inside the hotel. The security guard, called Ahmad Sopy, and his colleague ran up to the fourth floor and followed the noise to Room 403. 

According to local reports, Sopy and his colleagues banged on the door frantically and furiously to try and get the attention of DSJ. As they were banging on the door, they heard the commotion around DSJ’s fall. 

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The security guards are then said to have rushed back downstairs to the poolside to discover DSJ on the pool deck. On Thursday morning Denpasar Police Public Relations Officer Iptu Ketut Sukadi, held a small press conference to confirm the local reports.

He said ‘Yes, a foreign guest has died’. Describing the eyewitness accounts he said the ‘witness ran downstairs to the deck pool, it was true that the guest of room 403 or the victim was lying unconscious, and when they looked at the fourth floor [room], the witness did not see anyone [else]’.

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It is believed that DSJ died on impact although the police investigation as to why there was such a commotion in Room 403 and why he fell from the balcony remains underway. Police were summoned to The Haven Hotel immediately after the incident and a nurse from the Kuta II Health Centre confirmed the time of death at 8.10 pm. 

Photos of Room 403 have been shared by newspapers in Bali and show that the room was completely trashed. Clothes are lying all over the space, the desk chair is upturned and sheets and pillows are all over the floor.

Kuta Police are still looking for information regarding DSJ’s movements before he returned to the hotel on Wednesday evening. Police have reviewed CCTV footage from The Haven Hotel and it can be seen that he was staggering and entered the room alone. 

Local police did not confirm whether they have been able to track down a next of kin for DSJ. Though they confirmed that he was an Australian citizen and so it is likely that the Kuta Police will now be cooperating with the relevant Australian authorities to track down next of kin, complete the investigation, and lay DSJ to rest.

Although the police are investigating the incident they have not said that they are treating the case as suspicious; though they have not publicly ruled out suicide. 

The Haven Hotel in Bali has not released a statement and the hotel remains open for its guests. The Haven Bali is in Seminyak and is a mid-range hotel offering ‘sophisticated, contemporary design’. The resort is described as bringing ‘a natural elegance into one of Bali’s most animated areas’. Just a few minutes from the beach the hotel is one of the area’s most popular hotels. 

In June 2022 another Australian tourist was found dead in his hotel room in Kuta. Although local reports covered the news as it broke, no more updates have been shared by Bali Police following the investigation.