Pillager boy who fell in creek dies

Blair Hafften, the 2-year-old Pillager boy hospitalized last week after being submerged in a creek near his home, died Sunday at a Twin Cities hospital.

Hafften died at the University of Minnesota Children's Hospital in Minneapolis.

The Hennepin County Medical Center reported Hafften's death to the Cass County Sheriff's Department Monday, Sheriff Randy Fisher said. The cause and manner of death are pending autopsy results from the medical examiner's office, he said.

Hafften was found by his grandfather shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday in about 18 inches of water in Seven Mile Creek near his family's home in the Bigwater housing addition west of Pillager.

Hafften was initially airlifted by North Air Care to St. Cloud Hospital then transferred to the Twin Cities.

Hafften is survived by his mother, Amanda Hinch, and father, Stephan Hafften. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Thursday at Heritage Assembly of God Church in Baxter.