UCL grad hailed as hero after saving his mum from Dubai fire

14 people were injured in the blaze


UCL grad Angus Villars made international headlines this week after saving his wheelchair-bound Mother from a fire which took place in a Dubai hotel on New Years Eve.

Angus, who studied French and Russian at UCL and graduated in 2011, was preparing champagne on his 15th floor hotel balcony when the fire broke out.

As the inferno started to devour the five-star hotel Angus, who now works as an Equity Sales Trader, had to put his 64-year-old mother on his back as he ran down the 15 flights of stairs amidst the chaos unfolding around him.

Recalling the horrific event, Angus told MailOnline: “I got to the fire escape before the actual fire alarm had started going off, by which point there were already people running in the corridors, panicking essentially, and I ended up having to put somebody on my back who was in a wheelchair.

“It was basically absolute pandemonium.

“It was the classic thing where you would expect people to let women and children off first, but no, there was people shoving each other down the stairs and climbing over each other.”

Angus managed to snap this picture before fleeing the balcony

Remarkably, nobody was killed in the fire but local authorities said 14 people had been injured.

Investigations continue to unfold as the source of the fire remains unknown.