Boston Marathon bombing survivor Victoria McGrath killed in high-speed car crash in Dubai

A woman who cheated death in the Boston Marathon bombings of 2013 has died in a car crash on a road in Dubai.

Victoria McGrath, 23, Priscilla Perez Torres who was a classmate from Boston's Northeastern University, Toronto boxer Cody Nixon and his cousin James Portuondo were killed when a yellow Ferrari 458 Spider rented by Nixon slammed into a pole.

Just hours earlier, Nixon boasted of the rental in a haunting Instagram post where he promised: "Don't worry, I won't speed."

It is not yet clear who was driving, but authorities said the car was travelling at 90 mph (150kmh) when it hit the pole in a crash which tore the car in half and hurled the passengers out.

The driver and at least one passenger were reportedly under the influence of alcohol, according to the Albayan News.

The death of McGrath, from Connecticut, was particularly poignant because she was nearly killed in 2013, when she was aged 20, in the deadly terrorist bombings at the Boston Marathon orchestrated by Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his brother, Dzhokhar.

Two bombs, made with pressure cookers, killed three people and maimed and injured as many as 265.

People who saw McGrath cheat death then were stunned at the latest news.

"I thought that after surviving the marathon bomb that that girl was invincible," Bruce Mendelsohn, a bystander at the marathon who helped her after the bombings, told the Boston Globe.

He applied a tourniquet to McGrath's leg after the bomb exploded next to her near the Boston Marathon's finish line.

Boston firefighter James Plourde carried her to safety and he said in a statement: "It's been said that I helped to save her life. The truth is Victoria saved my life after the marathon as her love, support, and friendship helped myself and my family deal with the acts of that day."

The car that killed McGrath in Dubai was meant for only two passengers not four as at the time of the crash.

McGrath and Torres made a stop in Dubai en route to Bali for their spring break. It was not clear how they knew the two men in the car.

McGrath's parents, Jill and Jim McGrath, made a moving statement encouraging people to draw from the example Victoria set.

"Let us gather our grief and understand what it truly is — a transmutation of our love for Victoria — and let that understanding motivate us to be constructive as we eventually emerge from this tragedy," they said.

"Victoria and Priscilla were vibrant, beloved members of our community, and their passing leaves a grievous absence in our community and in our hearts," said Northeastern University President Joseph Aoun in a statement. "This is a heartbreaking loss to their families, friends, and to all of us in the Northeastern family."

McGrath was set to graduate from school in May with a degree in business.