A Perth man at the centre of a desperate international medical evacuation effort after he fell critically ill during a dream holiday has died.
Dave Crocos, from Bicton in the city’s southern suburbs, was surrounded by loved ones at a hospital in Brisbane when he took his last breath on Wednesday evening.
The Melville Softball Club took to social media to pay tribute to Crocos, who they said will be “missed dearly”.
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“It’s with great sadness that I am letting you all know about the passing of a long-time member and stalwart of the club, Dave Crocos,” the club said.
“Dave passed away (on Wednesday) in Brisbane. He unfortunately didn’t quite get to finish the big trip he and (wife) Jo were on.”
Crocos’ grieving family returned home to Perth on Thursday night, it is understood.
The 68-year-old stumped doctors after coming down with a mystery illness on a cruise from Los Angeles and Sydney.
His family previously revealed alarm bells were set off when he began suffering from a fever and aches.
Cruise doctors were unable to help and the decision was made to evacuate him to the nearest suitable hospital on land, in American Samoa.
While they knew the situation was grim, doctors on the South Pacific island were unable to identify exactly what was wrong.
They flagged it could be a bladder issue, but were not 100 per cent convinced.
“Time’s against us,” his son Mathew Bierberg told 7NEWS.com.au last week.
“My mum and sister are with him in hospital, sleeping on the floor. We don’t know if he’s going to survive.”
At the time Crocos was on a ventilator with fluid on his lungs. He was listed as critical.
A planned medevac flight to New Zealand had to be abandoned at the last minute before a new flight landing in Brisbane on Saturday was secured.
It was an arduous nine hours of flight time coupled with refuelling stops in Fiji and Noumea.
Puzzling for the family is that Crocos, a recently retired land surveyor, was in good shape and even went for a pre-holiday health check to ensure he was fit to travel.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade previously confirmed it had provided consular assistance to an Australian in American Samoa.
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