crime scene
Instagram model Sinead McNamara died after being found unconscious on a billionaire’s yacht in Greece. This is a representational image showing a crime scene tape. REUTERS/Sergio Flores

Sinead McNamara, a popular Instagram model, died after being found unconscious on a billionaire’s yacht in Greece under mysterious circumstances, media reports said Sunday. The 20-year-old Australian's cause of death is yet to be determined and the case is under investigation.

McNamara was working on the six-story Mayan Queen IV, a yacht owned by Mexican mining magnate Alberto Baillères anchored off the Greek island of Kefalonia, at the time of her death Friday. Media reports said the young model died while being flown to hospital after being found on the luxury $140 million yacht.

McNamara was discovered tangled in rope by a person on the port and then called the police. A doctor on board and port officials tried to save the woman.

While police in Greece have started a murder investigation, anonymous sources told local media that McNamara may have tried to kill herself.

Baillères, who is worth an estimated $6.9 billion, was reportedly not in Greece when McNamara died. He left the yacht on Tuesday just days before the woman was found unconscious. McNamara reportedly stayed on the vessel with the crew.

Just days before her death, McNamara had posted a cryptic message online with an image of herself on a quad bike.

"My head is all over the shop today,” she wrote along with emojis of a volcano, a tornado and a needle with blood dripping from it, adding: "Take me back to this where my only worry was not cracking my skull open.”

McNamara arrived in Greece in mid-June after traveling to Bermuda, Bali and the Whitsunday Islands in Australia. Her mother and sister were scheduled to meet her. McNamara wrote about her excitement to see her sister, Lauren, days ago in a birthday post.

“Happy birthday to the most amazing big sister I could ever ask for, 5 days till I get to see you!!! Excitement is an understatement,” McNamara wrote on Instagram on Aug. 26.

Her brother Jake McNamara told news.com.au: "I have unfortunately received the worst news of my life, (Sinead) has passed away."

McNamara friends and 21,000 Instagram followers flooded the model's social media pages with their condolences and expressing shock over the young woman's sudden death.

"You lived life with no fear and it's a blessing to have known you," one friend wrote.

Another wrote: "Everyone should take a page from Sinead's book - where she was meant to have a holiday in Bali that turned into a year and a half trip sailing across the world."

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it has offered support to the McNamara family.

“DFAT is providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian who died in Greece,” a spokeswoman said.