Aditya K. of Ramanattukara, Kozhikode, has become the first child from the State to bag the Bharat Award for bravery.
The most prestigious of the National Bravery Awards, given away by the Indian Council for Child Welfare, the Bharat Award has gone to Aditya for rescuing 20 people from a burning bus that was on the move.
Two more children from the State are also recipients of the awards.
Muhammed Mohsin has been given the award posthumously for saving the lives of three children.
Fatah gets the award for rescuing a woman and a girl from an approaching train. Both belong to Kozhikode.
Aditya had rescued 20 people from a bus carrying members of the Calicut University Pensioners’ Forum and their families when it caught fire coming down a steep mountain road.
Aditya was on the bus along with five other children. He broke the glasses with a hammer and rescued everyone in the nick of time, before the fuel tank of the bus burst.
Rescue from sea
Muhammed Mohsin saved the lives of three fellow students who were bathing in sea. The 16-year-old lost his life while trying to tug the third friend back to shore. Fatah, a class 9 student from Vadakara, rescued a woman and a child who were walking on a railway track even as a train was approaching.
The awards will be presented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Republic Day event in New Delhi on January 26.
The entire expenses of the awardees, including for their education, will be borne by the Indian Council for Child Welfare, Kerala State Council for Child Welfare general secretary in-charge P.S. Bharathi said.
One Bharat Award, five special awards, and 15 general awards are announced each year.
