Family’s horror at “sick” photos of dead backpacker’s corpse being shared on social media

The family of a backpacker found dead in Cambodia have been confronted with photos of her corpse circulating on social media.

The horrified family of British backpacker Amelia Bambridge, who was found dead in Cambodia after a five-day search, say pictures of the 21-year-old’s corpse have surfaced on Instagram.

Her grief-stricken brother Harry posted a message on the social media platform begging followers to report the accounts of twisted trolls who had shared the images.

Shockingly, Facebook – which owns Instagram – initially said the disturbing images did not breach its rules and refused to remove them.

The Mirror reports that it was only last night, after pressure from the British newspaper, that Facebook removed the most intrusive post.

They say that other images could still exist online as locals posted pictures appearing to show Amelia’s floating body.

British backpacker Amelia Bambridge was found dead in Cambodia five days after she vanished.

Harry Bambridge, brother of British backpacker Amelia Bambridge, begged social media users to help shut down accounts sharing photos of his sister’s corpse. Picture: AP

One particularly shocking post showed a distinctive highland cow tattoo Amelia had on her arm, and was shared by a bizarre US account famed for uploading gory pictures of dead bodies, foetuses and all manner of blood and guts.

Devastated Harry Bambridge shared a snapshot of the ghoul’s Instagram account to his own page, writing: “Get this shared and get this f*****g insensitive women to stop posting pictures of my dead sister.”

Her sister Georgie also urged people to help get the account shut down.

A friend also claims Amelia’s 11-year-old nephew had seen the graphic images.

RELATED: Body of missing backpacker Amelia Bambridge found at sea, police say

Amelia Bambridge went missing in Cambodia, sparking a large-scale search.

Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson MP said: “This is completely disgraceful from Instagram. Amelia’s family should have their privacy and wishes respected. Instagram’s standards are clearly morally redundant if they don’t rule these posts in breach of guidelines.”

A spokesperson for Facebook said the company’s “thoughts go out to her family and friends.”

“We have clear rules against posting graphic content, when we are made aware of this content we remove it,” the spokesperson said.

“People often use Facebook and Instagram to share stories in the news and this can result in content appearing that some may find upsetting.”

Amelia Bambridge was travelling in Cambodia when she vanished.

The picture of Amelia’s tattoo which appeared on the gory Instagram account was captioned: “Forensic Friday! Tattoo identification was super helpful this week in an investigation involving a young woman.

“Her family provided multiple photos, including the top photo of her tattoo of a Highland cow.

“Searchers were able to identify her body based on the clothes she was wearing when last seen, along with her tattoos.”

It is reported that the post was liked 11,000 times before it was removed after pressure from The Sunday Mirror.

Amelia’s body was found on Friday some 100km from where she was seen leaving a beach party on the tourist island of Koh Rong.

She was last seen at 3am and her body was found floating amid rocks off Koh Chhlam, an island in the neighbouring Koh Kong province.

A large-scale search took place after Amelia Bambridge went missing. Picture: AP

Amelia was due to check out of her hostel at noon on October 25 and planned to leave the island later in the afternoon with a friend, but did not return to pick up her passport.

Amelia’s family flew out to Cambodia to join a massive search operation of more than 100 divers, land-based teams, police drones and volunteers.

Harry Bambridge wrote on Instagram: “I’ve just seen her and I can confirm it’s my little sister Amelia.

“I’m so sorry to all her friends and family, there’s nothing more I wanted then (sic) to bring her back alive and I really f****** tried.

“And I’m sorry to you, Amelia Bambridge, the round is on me when we meet again in heaven.”

Cambodia’s police chief said drowning was the likely cause of death.

This story originally appeared in The Sun and is reproduced here with permission