AKIPRESS.COM - British adventurer Henry Worsley has died after collapsing from exhaustion within miles of his goal of becoming the first person to cross the Antarctic alone and unsupported.

Worsley, a former army officer, was just 30 miles from the end of the almost 1,000-mile trek when he called for help and was airlifted off the ice Friday, UK media report.

His family said Monday that Worsley, 55, died "following complete organ failure" at a hospital in Punta Arenas, Chile. He had undergone surgery a day earlier for bacterial peritonitis — an infection of the tissue lining the abdomen, which can lead to septic shock.