In a sad end to a beautiful story, one of the 'hugging twins' has died.

The death of a newborn baby has prompted an outpouring of grief across social media.

Hawk Buchmeyer passed on Wednesday evening in a Florida hospital due to complications from his deteriorating health.

The three-week old had won the hearts of thousands around the world after a photo of him and his twin brother Mason was posted online.

The image captured the brothers touching for the first time, with Mason seemingly ‘comforting’ his brother, earning them the title ‘the hugging twins’.

Hawk had been diagnosed with the rare condition congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

Fans had previously followed his journey as his health slowly deteriorated.

Parents Brandy Guettler and Tommy Buchmeyer had only told fans last week their son needed to “keep fighting”.

“Well, this roller coaster we are on is headed back down. Hawk’s bilirubin levels are very high,” they said.

“We need to continue to pray that he keeps fighting and getting stronger so we can hopefully start to gradually take him off Ecmo.”

News of Hawk’s death was shared with the message he had “gone peacefully”.

Thousands of users have reacted to the post to share their grief.

“God bless him… RIP sweet little angel,” one user said.

“Prayers for comfort and peace for your family. Most precious picture, thank you for sharing,” another commented.

Feature image via Facebook.