A joyous wedding night in coastal Maine has turned to unimaginable grief after a grandmother and her two young grandchildren were killed when their car plunged into water near a boat ramp in Roque Bluffs. Sharon Bukulmez, 61, and her grandchildren Kinsley Grubb, five, and Sawyer Grubb, three, were found dead the morning after the accident, leaving the children's father — who had been celebrating his wedding just hours earlier — devastated.

What happened in Roque Bluffs

Bukulmez had been entrusted with driving the two young children a short distance from the wedding venue to the family's Airbnb accommodation on the evening of the tragedy. The group was last seen leaving the venue at around 8.30pm. When they failed to arrive, the children's father Peter Grubb grew alarmed and began searching for them himself, while other family members alerted police.

Grubb spent hours combing the beach throughout the night looking for his mother and children. Investigators used phone data to trace Bukulmez's location to the water near a boat ramp in Roque Bluffs. At around 7am the following morning, police located the car fully submerged in the water.

Investigators told Grubb that his mother had died in an attempt to help his children escape from the sinking vehicle — a detail he said gave him a "slight sense of peace." The cause and manner of their deaths remains under investigation.

A father's heartbreak

"They were the best pair of kids a father could ask for," Grubb said, reflecting on the loss of Kinsley and Sawyer. Despite the overwhelming grief, he said he found some comfort in knowing his children understood how deeply loved they were.

Grubb described his mother as a deeply caring woman who worked at a hospital. A spokesperson for Mount Desert Island Hospital confirmed they were "deeply saddened" by her death.

A community fundraiser established to support the family raised more than $US74,000 (approximately $A104,145) within a single day. The campaign's organiser described Kinsley and Sawyer as children who "lit up the lives of their parents," and remembered Bukulmez as "the kindest person I've ever known."

"She listened, she cared, she gave — all the time," the organiser wrote. "Where she beamed brightest, however, was in the love of and care for her two grandchildren. There was absolutely nothing she wouldn't do for them. Her absence will leave a palpable hole in this community forever."

A dangerous spot with a troubling history

The Roque Bluffs boat ramp where the tragedy unfolded has a grim history. Thirteen years ago, two people were killed in strikingly similar circumstances at the same location. That 2013 incident prompted new safety signage to be installed at the ramp, but questions are now being raised about whether those measures were sufficient.

Local representative Tiffany Strout expressed her heartbreak over the deaths and indicated she was prepared to push for improved safety at the site, writing that she would be willing to work toward making signage "more visible to better alert those driving in the area that the ramp leads to water."

The recurring danger at the location is drawing renewed calls for action from the community and local officials alike. For a family already processing tragedy in Maine, the deaths have amplified existing concerns about public safety infrastructure at the ramp.

Community rallies around the grieving family

The GoFundMe campaign described Peter Grubb and his wife Becca as "incredibly hard working parents, trying to create the best life for their young family." The outpouring of financial support reflects the depth of grief felt by those who knew the family.

"The profound devastation they must be feeling is nothing that we can understand or make sense of," the campaign description reads, "and the collective hearts of all of us are breaking for them."

An investigation into the circumstances of the deaths continues.