Bali: Tourist details near-death experience at Canggu hostel after mass illness event kills one

A young tourist has broken her silence on a suspected mass illness incident in a Bali hostel, which left a friend of hers dead and dozens others hospitalised.

The popular Canggu hostel is known for its “party atmosphere and good vibes”, however the $14-a-night accommodation has faced scrutiny after several backpackers became severely unwell on the premises.

Chinese traveller Leila Li has spoken for the first time on what she endured.

It is understood that on August 31, a group of travellers joined a communal dinner at the hostel.

Within hours, many attendees reportedly started developing symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhoea and high fevers.

Ms Li and her friend Miss Y — who were both sharing the same room — were struck with intense symptoms that continued well into the following day.

“I managed to ask (hostel staff) for help and got taken to a medical centre three times, and then they called the ambulance for me,” Ms Li told the Daily Mail.

Her friend was too sick to move, stuck vomiting in her bunk bed for hours, so Ms Li says she pleaded with staff to get her medical assistance.

“I asked to get a doctor for Miss Y and when I got to the hospital, I messaged her to go too but I never got a reply.”

After being rushed to hospital, Ms Li spent five days fighting for her life in intensive care.

While Ms Li survived and was discharged, she later found out her friend had passed away alone in her bunk bed.

Miss Y had been found unresponsive in the room around 11am on September 2 — the day after Ms Li was rushed to the ICU — and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Vision from the hostel’s CCTV shows the door to Miss Y’s room had been taped off just hours after her passing.

The pair were not the only ones at the hostel struck by the severe illness.

“More than 20 people suffered collective poisoning, at least ten were in critical condition, and one person died,” Ms Li said.

“(The hostel) are trying to cover it up and I just want to warn people so this does not happen to anyone else.”

A fellow tourist, 29-year-old Leslie Zhao, said she checked into the hostel on September 1 — the day Ms Li and others were rushed to a Balinese hospital — but claims no staff had mentioned the outbreak.

“There was many people feeling ill and the hostel still accepted new bookings,” she said.

Despite not consuming a meal from the hostel, Ms Zhao says she came down with the same symptoms as Ms Li and Miss Y.

I am very lucky. If I did not wake up, the police might have found two bodies in the hostel.

“I got sick at midnight and asked the hostel to help me, but no one came,” Ms Zhao said.

“I fell down in the bathroom and stayed stuck on the ground until 11am the next day.

“I was vomiting and fainting for over seven hours and nobody came to check on me.

“I am very lucky. If I did not wake up, the police might have found two bodies in the hostel.”

Ms Zhao was eventually rushed to hospital in critical condition and left fighting for her life in the ICU.

“I almost died — I was taken away by ambulance, paid high foreign medical bills and when I came back to the hostel I didn’t even get an apology, I had to pay for the bed for the nights I was in the hospital.”

While some guests initially believed the illness to be a bad case of Bali belly, a colloquial term for traveller’s diarrhoea caused by consuming contaminated food or water, Ms Li said her doctors’ findings showed something more sinister occurred.

“My attending doctor has 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.”

Ms Li alleges Miss Y had informed her of fumigation for bed bugs happening at the hostel at the August 31 dinner.

Inhalation of bed bug pesticides can cause serious symptoms in humans such as vomiting, weakness and breathing difficulties, and can be fatal without medical intervention.

Miss Y’s cause of death was declared to be acute gastroenteritis and hypovolemic shock — the specific source of contamination, whether a food or pathogen, has yet to be determined.

Negative online reviews for the hostel indicate bedbugs had been present on-site for several months before the mass illness.

“My only complaint was the front desk was not honest about the bed bug infestation,” one reviewer wrote in July 2025.

“I only found out after pretending to be asleep and overheard cleaners talking about (the bugs) when they came into my room early in the morning.”

Another reviewer wrote in June: “After staying here for one night I am absolutely COVERED head to toe in bed bug bites.”

A British backpacker also shared her experience after being rushed to hospital from the hostel, with a TikTok documenting her ordeal gaining 101,000 views in six days.

“What seemed like paradise quickly turned into my worst nightmare,” the traveller said.

“I was throwing up, shaking, and everything was coming out of both ends.

“At the hospital they gave me morphine and antibiotics straight away, and all I could think was, ‘what if I hadn’t made it to the hospital when I did? Would I have made it through the night?’

The TikTokker omitted the name of the hostel for legal reasons in their post, however comments flooding the account named the Canggu hostel.

Both Ms Zhao and Ms Li say they have been contacted by other tourists from Australia, Europe and Asia who also fell ill during their stay at the hostel.

“One girl stayed there a month after us and ended up in hospital fighting for her life,” Ms Li said.

“Another girl we met had to get home to Jakarta in a wheelchair.”

The hostel has since turned off comments on their social media pages, and have stopped allowing new reviews about their venue.

PerthNow has reached out to the Canggu hostel for comment.