Emilio Ballack died when the quad bike he was riding at his family's villa in Portugal shot three feet into the air and fell on him, police say.
Emilio, the 18-year-old son of German football legend Michael, was performing 'a manoeuvre' on the bike at 2.07am in the villa's grounds when the bike tipped back and its front wheels came off the ground.
That caused the bike to shoot three feet up in the air before it came crashing down on the teen, leaving him so badly injured that emergency services had no chance of saving him and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
His injuries were said to be so severe that firefighters called to pull him free of the wreck were offered counseling afterwards.
Emilio Ballack, 18 (left in his last Instagram post, right with mother Simone), died at his father's holiday home in Portugal on Thursday after a quad bike he was riding flipped
Police said Emilio (left, with father Michael right) was performing 'a manoeuvre' on the bike shortly after 2am when it shot 3ft up in the air and then landed on him
Emilio, who had recently graduated from Munich International School, was on holiday at the Portuguese villa along with father Michael and his two brothers - eldest Louis, 19, and youngest Jordi, 16.
All three were said to be inside the home when the accident happened, along with Emilio's grandparents Karin and Stephan.
It was Karin who alerted emergency services to Emilio's accident, though it is not clear how she found out about the crash.
Emilio was holidaying with his family at a property his dad bought several years ago a short walk from Praia de Troia-Gale beach at the end of the Troia Peninsula.
A narrow line of sand dunes separate the villa in a quiet private residential street, off a public road with security-controlled access close to a new five-star hotel eco-resort, from the beach.
Emilio posted photos of the sun setting over the pristine white sand at the weekend as well as another snap of Comporta Beach Club, a trendy hangout a ten-minute drive from the family holiday home.
His older brother, in an Instagram post late last month showing him sitting on a quad, said of the fun-packed break: 'Quads were flipped, ferries were missed, new taste buds were explored.'
The Ballacks are understood to have enjoyed a family barbecue on Wednesday evening hours before the tragedy.
Emilio was on a family holiday with his father, two brothers and grandparents at this villa in Portugal when the accident occurred in the early hours of Thursday
Security guards were on patrol at the villa on Friday as the family holed up inside awaiting the results of a post-mortem due later today
Ballack's mother Karin (right) is said to have alerted the emergency services to the accident. Father Stephan (left) is also thought to have been at the villa
It is not clear where Simone Lambe, Ballack's ex-wife and mother of his three children, was at the time of the accident.
She typically lives with the children in Lake Starnberg, near Munich, with a new husband who she married in 2019 and is not thought to have been on the holiday.
Last week she uploaded images of herself
