Bali Police Find Tourist Dead After Accident In Canggu

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Police in Bali has launched an investigation into the death of a tourist who was found dead in village street in Canggu in the early hours of Sunday morning. The Head of the Badung Police Public Relations Section, Iptu Ketut Suardana, confirmed the death of MMA fighter Keith Thomas Coughlan to the media later in the day. 

The police initially shared that Coughlan was an Australian citizen after investigators found his Australian driving license. It has since been confirmed by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade that Coughlan is an Irish citizen who had been residing in Fremantle, Western Australia. It is believed that Coughlan had been staying in Bali for a few months and had headed to Indonesia for an MMA fight earlier in July.

The 26-year-old was found in a drainage ditch by a local man who was driving through the area in the early hours. I Wayan Sumertha, 42, told the police that he spotted something suspicious in the gully as he was driving past. Using the light of his phone Sumertha approached and discovered Coughlan not breathing and unresponsive, trapped under crashed moped.

Suardana told the local newspaper reporters that ‘Initially the witness saw that there was a black Honda Vario Techno motorbike. After the witness checked into the ditch, it turned out that there was a human body at the bottom. The witness then contacted I Wayan Rudita, 45, who is a leader from Banjar Adat Anyar Kelod’. In Bali, the Banjar is the local community government and traditional village leaders. 

Upon hearing the news the local Banjar contacted the police and immediately headed to the scene. Together they lifted Coughlan’s body and were able to identify him. Coughlan was found with his cell phone and his wallet containing a few thousand Indonesian rupiah in cash.

The police have shared their initial analysis of the situation, although an investigation is underway and there will likely need to be a post-mortem examination. Suardana said ‘At the crime scene, seven bottles of Bintang beer were found. It is suspected that the victim was drunk on a motorcycle. Moreover, at the location, there are no street lights. In addition, when he fell, the victim’s body was hit by a motorbike’. 

The Honda Vario has been secured by Badung Traffic Police pending further investigation. So far no eyewitnesses have come forward. The police have not shared any further information and have not given an indication as to whether the Irish Consulate has been informed of the case. 

The news comes just days after an Australian tourist died at a hotel in Seminyak. The man, reported in the media as 46-year-old DSJ, fell from his fourth-floor hotel room at The Haven Hotel on the night of Wednesday 20th July. 

He was seen on the hotel’s CCTV cameras staggering back to his room just hours after checking in. Security staff was alerted to a commotion in his room and rushed upstairs to investigate. As they were banging on the hotel room door they heard screams from the poolside deck. They returned to the ground floor to discover that DSJ had fallen from the room and died on impact. 

Upon opening the hotel room staff and police found the room trashed but there was no evidence that DSJ was accompanied by anyone in the minutes before his death. 

An investigation is still underway and Bali police have not issued any further statements after their initial announcement of the tourist’s death. During their initial statements, the police confirmed that they will be looking into DSJ’s movements before his death.

He is believed to have been staying in Bali alone and was due to check out of the hotel on the 25th of July. Police said they are not treating the case as suspicious and had not ruled out suicide at the time of their initial announcement.