VANCOUVER -- The community is rallying behind a family after a tragic off-road accident left two Abbotsford children dead.

Arnold Community Church opened its doors to the public for the first time since the pandemic began so that those who knew the children had a place to grieve.

People came on their own or one family at a time to ensure physical distancing.

“It’s hard to get your mind and emotions around this kind of tragedy,” said pastor Cam Stuart. “Sometimes it’s helpful for people to go to a place."

On Sunday, a family of five was involved in a devastating off-road accident near Chilliwack. Each member of the Dueck family was wearing a seatbelt when their side-by-side ATV plunged off the logging road. The vehicle went 50 metres down an embankment into Foley Lake. The parents and one of their children made it out of the submerged vehicle. But a nine-year-old girl and her 10-year-old brother did not.

Stuart knew both of them.

“The little boy, the guy had tons of energy, everybody’s buddy. He was a real jokester prankster,” the pastor told CTV News Vancouver.

He described the girl as “a sensitive soul. Very thoughtful. Really sweet kind of person. She loved to sing.”

Stuart says the loss is tragic.

“You just are in shock. You don’t want to believe it,” he said.

Inside the church Wednesday, tables were set up with beautiful pictures of the children. People left cards and flowers and lit candles in their memory.

The pastor says the family wants to thank those who helped on the day of the accident, from the emergency responders to the people who happened to be in the area at the time.

One of them was Joy Pringle. She dove into the freezing water to try and find the kids, and then stayed on scene to honour a heart-wrenching request from the children’s mother.

“I promised the mom I would stay to be there when the kids were extricated from the water, recovered from the water,” she said in a video posted to Facebook.

Meanwhile, the community has been supporting the family through an online fundraiser that had raised more than $43,000 by Wednesday afternoon. 

The pastor says the family is recovering physically, but faces a long road ahead as they grieve the loss of the two children.

“They are devastated, however, they’re finding a lot of comfort in their faith, a lot of comfort in family and friends who are around them,” he said.