WBRZ - Baton Rouge

ST. AMANT- Family and friends are just beginning to cope with the loss of two young girls, both killed Tuesday evening, after their mother's car crashed into a bayou near Stringer Bridge Road.

Faith Castilaw, 9, and her sister, Patience Lobell, 7, could not escape their mother's car when it crashed into Black Bayou in St. Amant. Their mother, Raelyn Encalade, and two other children escaped the wreckage.

"I'm sure God's gonna take care of them that's the way I feel, to me they were like angels because they played and made my life pleasant," said Ray Hall, the sisters' grandfather.

Family members told News 2, Encalade was on her way to the store to pick up a few things and took the girls along for the ride.

"Under the circumstances, I think Raelyn is holding up the best she can that was the reason she lived was for her two children," said Hall.

"They were always willing to help their classmates, always willing to do what we asked them to do, very good in school, good grades, well liked by everyone," said Christie Crooks, principal at St. Amant Primary, where the two girls were students.

Crooks says counselors will be on hand to help students and staff.

A memorial account has been set up in the names of the two girls at Capital One Bank.