14-Year-Old Boy Dies After Digging Sand Hole in Minnesota

A teen boy, who was rescued last week after getting buried in a sand hole he’d been digging in rural Minnesota, has died.

Officials determined that Hunter Wayne Flaxbeard, 14, died by accidental suffocation on March 30, multiple outlets report.

On March 28, Flaxbeard was buried in sand while digging a tunnel in a rural area of Wabasha County, according to KAALTV.

A 911 call was made around 5:30 p.m. to report that “a 14-year-old male victim was stuck in a sand hole covered in sand,” Wabasha County Chief Deputy Jim Warren said in a statement, the Rochester Post-Bulletin reports.

Flaxbeard, of Kellogg, Minn., was pulled from the sand hole and flown to Mayo Clinic Hospital-Saint Marys, where he remained in serious condition before dying of his injuries two days later.

“Our deputies and other first responders have children of their own, so it’s just so much more traumatic to see a young life taken when you have has so much life to live yet,” Sheriff Rodney Bartsh told KAALTV of the deadly accident.

An online obituary posted for Flaxbeard describes him as “a kind and compassionate young man” who was “full of adventure and new ideas.” Flaxbeard was friendly and helpful, loved church, youth group and related activities, loved ones wrote.

He had three siblings as well as “many animals he cared for at his home,” according to the notice.

David Zabel, St. John’s Lutheran Church Principal and teacher, recalled Flaxbeard as “spiritual, active, and kind” with a “heart of gold,” KAALTV reports.

The teen was an organ and tissue donor, according to the obituary, which says his family hopes that final act of generosity will provide “the gift of life to many.”

“This is something he would be proud of,” says the notice. “Hunter will live on in the hearts of his family and friends, and the donor recipients he never met.”

Funeral services for Flaxbeard will be held on Saturday, April 8, 2023, at Church of Christ in Plainview.