The 16-year-old Muhsin, hailing from Kozhikode district, is the only posthumous winner among the 21 children nominated across the country for the Indian Council for Child Welfare National Bravery Awards 2019.
"I am proud of Muhsin. I am not sad at all: He gave his life for a good cause. He has died a brave death. My wife Nasila remembers him with tears in her eyes, but says Muhsin did what no ordinary person can do," Muhsin's father Mustafa (45), who works in Qatar, told .
"I can never forget what all my three kids talked about. Muhsin used to tell his sisters Minha Fatima, 11, and Ayesha Mehrin,8, that their names too will be famous one day because of him once he became an IAS officer," Mustafa added.
A resident of Thikkodi village, Muhsin had gone to play cricket along with his friends on October 21 last year at Kodikkal beach. Mustafa recalled that the weather warning came late in the day.
"By the time the weather warning came, the children were already on the sea shore, struggling with the waves."
Muhsin's three friends ventured far into the rough sea. Though many people were present on the shore that fateful day, nobody tried to save the children.
"Muhsin jumped into the sea and brought two friends to the shore. However, he hit his head on a boulder hidden under the sea water and died. His body floated to the seashore three days later," the teenager's father recalled.
( With inputs from IANS )