Chinese tourist Deqing Zhuoga, 25, collapsed at Canggu's $9-a-night Clandestino Hostel after falling violently ill just days after the dorms were fumigated for a bedbug outbreak.
The Daily Mail can reveal she was initially taken to a doctor by hostel staff, but after raising concerns about the medical costs, she went back to her room, where she later died alone, Balinese police said.
According to Badung Police investigation chief, First Inspector Azarul Ahmad, the hostel's receptionist, Maria Gores, checked on Ms Zhuoga shortly before her shift ended at midnight and became alarmed by her condition.
Ms Gores called security to help lift her into a taxi and accompanied her to a nearby clinic.
'The doctor provided initial treatment but, due to lack of funds, only prescribed medication,' Inspector Ahmad said.
'They bought the medicine from a nearby pharmacy and returned to the hostel.'
Ms Zhuoga was back in her bunk by 1.30am, but it wasn't until the next morning that the day receptionist Eka Ayu realised she had not checked out.
'She knocked on the door. After unlocking it, she found the victim lying face down,' Inspector Ahmad said.
'The manager checked for a pulse but there was no breathing.'
Police found vomit in a rubbish bin beside the bed, and estimated Ms Zhuoga had been dead for between 2 and 12 hours.
Next to her semi-naked body, clad only in an unbuttoned blue shirt, lay a music player with earphones and a pair of slides.
A post-mortem by Dr Marcell later found her death was likely preventable with proper medical treatment.
Her friends and family had posted on social media, begging locals and travellers in Bali to keep an eye out for after they had lost contact with her days earlier.
In one missing person's post in a Bali Facebook group, a friend pleaded: 'Her family is very worried and urgently asking for any information about her.
'Deqing was last seen in Ubud, Bali. Since August 30, her family has not been able to get in touch with her.
'If you have seen Deqing or know anything about her whereabouts, please contact us.'
Ms Zhuoga had already been dead at least a week when that post was made on September 9.
Her roommate, Leila Li, survived after spending five days in intensive care - but even she only learned her friend had died after she was discharged.
Ms Li is now demanding the hostel be immediately shut down pending a full investigation into the tragedy, which is only now coming to light.
'They are trying to cover it up and I just want to warn people so this does not happen to anyone else,' she told Daily Mail.
'More than 20 people suffered collective poisoning, at least ten were in critical condition, and one person died.
'And even now people are still checking in and getting sick there.'
Ms Li had checked in on August 31 and shared a communal dinner that night where she met Ms Zhuoga who had arrived at the hostel earlier.
Hours later, chaos erupted as several guests began violently vomiting, collapsing in corridors and begging staff for medical help.
By morning, the sickness had swept through the accommodation with multiple guests admitted to medical centres and the BIMC hospital.
Ms Li says that by the time she was taken away by ambulance, Ms Zhuoga was too ill to move, lying in her bunk 'vomiting for hours' while other guests scrambled for help.
'I asked for help and got taken to a medical centre three times and then they finally called an ambulance,' she said.
'I messaged [Ms Zhuoga] from hospital telling her to go too, but she never replied.'
Ms Zhuoga's cause of death was recorded as acute gastroenteritis and hypovolemic shock, but the exact source of poisoning remains undetermined.
Despite early assumptions that the victims had suffered Bali Belly from a communal dinner, Ms Li says hospital tests revealed a far more alarming truth.
'My doctor confirmed it was pesticide poisoning and food poisoning,' she said.
'I went to the medical centre three times and each time my condition improved, but when I went back to my room to rest the symptoms would reoccur.'
She claims Ms Zhuoga had even mentioned at dinner that an adjacent dorm had been shut for fumigation after a severe bedbug outbreak.
Ms Li, along with other guests, including German travellers Melanie Irene and Alisa Kokonozi, Saudi national Alahmadi Yousef Mohammed, Filipino guest Cana Clifford Jay and another Chinese tourist Leslie Zhao, were later named as victims in the official Kuta Police report.
Inspector Ahmad confirmed that, due to the number of guests reporting identical symptoms, further investigation of the hostel would be carried out.
But Ms Li says authorities have been far too slow and she is worried more lives may be lost.
Along with other victims she has contacted Booking.com and Agoda to request that the hostel be removed from their platforms, but they claimed their pleas have been ignored.
'We did our best and sent emails with our hospital letters, we provided a lot of evidence but they did not remove it from their listing.'
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