An Indian woman who was among the 17 passengers who died in a bus crash on Thursday was cremated in Dubai.

Roshni Moolchandani, 22, was a budding model and social media influencer with almost 53,000 followers on Instagram. On Thursday, she was returning to Dubai from Muscat when the bus she was travelling in crashed into a sign post, killing more than half of the passengers on board.

On Saturday, her parents and siblings flew into Dubai from Jaipur, in northern India, to have her cremated.

The Dubai resident, who worked at a hotel in the emirate, sent photographs of herself to her brother before leaving Muscat. She was travelling with her cousin’s husband Vikram Thakur, who also died in the crash, and a friend who survived.

Moolchandani and Thakur switched seats to the left side of the bus during the journey, according to social workers who spoke to the family.

It was the left side of the bus which was destroyed when its driver crashed into a maximum-height sign protruding over Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Road near the exit for Rashidiya.

Her injuries were so severe that her body could not be taken to India, said Girish Pant, a volunteer who helped the family conduct the last rites for Moolchandani in Dubai.

“It is a tragedy for the family to lose two young people,” Mr Pant said.

“Friends said they moved to the left side of the bus and it was that side that was smashed. A friend sitting on the right survived. The parents could not stop crying because the worst possible thing is to cremate your child.”

Initial investigations into the bus crash revealed that the Omani driver, in his fifties, took a lane off Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Road that is not designated for buses and crashed into the sign. The driver survived the accident.

Seventeen passengers died, including 12 Indians, two Pakistanis, an Irish woman and a Bangladeshi citizen.