Boston Bombing Survivor Killed in Dubai

A college student who survived the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 has died in a car accident in Dubai.

Victoria McGrath was a student at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. The university said in a statement that McGrath and another student, Priscilla Perez Torres, were killed during the weekend.

The two friends, both 23 years old, were on a personal trip to the Persian Gulf country in the Middle East.

News reports say the driver and another passenger were also killed in the crash of a Ferrari sports car. The driver was identified as Canadian Boxer Cody Nixon.

The U.S. Embassy in Dubai declined to comment.

McGrath survived the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013. The terror attack killed three people and injured more than 200. She received injuries from shrapnel that struck her left leg when the first of two bombs exploded.

McGrath and a firefighter, James Plourde, appear in an AP news agency photo from the attack area.

Plourde said he and his family were "devastated with the loss of our dearest friend," the CBS News website reported.

McGrath's parents told AP that their daughter responded to the bombing with determination and humility. They say she worked with poor and disabled children. After the Boston Marathon bombings, she also worked with veterans, they said.

Northeastern University President Joseph Aoun sent a statement to the university community about the accident. He called McGrath's and Torres's deaths "a heartbreaking loss to their families, friends, and to all of us in the Northeastern family."

He said McGrath was from Weston, Connecticut. Perez Torres came to the university from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.

McGrath was studying business at the university in Boston.

I'm Mario Ritter.

Words in This Story

shrapnel –n. small pieces of metal scattered at high speed from the explosion of a bomb, shell or missile

devastated –adj. to feel extreme emotional pain