Family members told KDVR that Khalid Adkins got sick after traveling last week to the Dominican Republic with his daughter.
"It was going to be like a Father's Day, father-daughter trip out there," Adkins's daughter, Mia, told KUSA. She said they explored caves, visited the beach and rode ATVs before she had to leave to return to work. She told KUSA that her father opted to stay in the Dominican Republic for an extended vacation.
He suddenly became ill Sunday, KDVR reported. He tried to fly back to the U.S., but after he became violently sick in the plane's bathroom, he was forced to disembark, Adkins's sister-in-law, Marla Strick, told the news station on Tuesday.
"He said his leg started to swell and that's why he couldn't get up," Strick told KDVR. "He started sweating and vomiting."
He went to a Santo Domingo hospital for treatment and was subsequently transferred to a larger hospital for treatment, KMGH-TV reported. Strick told the news station Adkins died two days later. His hospital diagnosis and cause of death were not immediately known.
"I just don't understand what's going on," Strick told KUSA. "He was happy, fine. And to fall ill and die two days later? It just doesn't make sense, and we can't get any answers."
Family members launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to bring his body back to the U.S.
He is survived by his daughter and his son, Khalid Jr., KUSA reported.
More than 10 American tourists have died since January after vacationing in the Dominican Republic, prompting concerns over the safety of traveling to the nation. Some tourists have reported they became violently ill after drinking alcohol from resort bars or hotel mini fridges in the country, however, officials in the country have said the deaths are not unusual.
Autopsies conducted on five of the tourists determined they died of natural causes, Tourism Minister Francisco Javier García said last week, according to The Associated Press. He said that officials are confident autopsies on the other tourists would show they also died of natural causes.
"We want the truth to prevail," he said, according to the AP. "There is nothing to hide here."
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