Nurse who saved lives in Wayanad landslide honoured by Tamil Nadu

Chennai: A Sabeena, a nurse from the Nilgiris district in Tamil Nadu who risked her life to save over 35 lives by travelling through a zipline by tightly holding the First Aid kit to treat those stuck in the landslides in Wayanad last month, was on Thursday honoured with the state government’s Kalpana Chawla Award for Courage and Daring Enterprise.

P Veeramuthuvel, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) scientist who headed the country’s third unmanned moon mission Chandrayaan-3, was also honoured with the Dr A P J Abdul Kalam award. Veeramuthuvel, who studied in a government school in Villupuram district, and other scientists who worked in all three unmanned moon missions were felicitated by the state government in October last year.

At the Independence Day celebrations on Thursday, Stalin presented the awards to Sabeena and Veeramuthuvel. Sabeena risked her life on July 30 when a landslide stuck in the picturesque Wayanad district by treating several affected people. She treated and saved more than 35 lives by tightly holding the First Aid Kit and travelling through a zipline, over the raging river.

The National Disaster Response Force set up a zipline to rescue the injured persons on the other side. However, the injuries were so severe that they could not be lifted for further treatment without First Aid.

“When no male nurse was available, Sabeena volunteered to go through the zipline to reach the other side. As the rescue team were hesitant, the courageous and committed Sabeena, came forward to go the other side,” the government said.

Sabeena, wearing a raincoat by tightly holding the First Aid kit with her, travelled without any fear of the raging river. “Her only goal was to save maximum lives,” the government said, adding that Sabeena is so passionate about her profession that her only daughter is also doing B.Sc. (Nursing).

Veeramuthuvel and his team accomplished the safe and soft landing of the Chandrayaan-3 lander on the lunar surface with India being the first country to land on the south pole of the moon.

In his speech, Stalin announced the launch of the Chief Minister’s Pharmacy in January 2025 to provide generic medicines to citizens at subsidised rates in the state. The Chief Minister said about 1,000 pharmacies will be opened across the state to begin with and also announced a scheme to help ex-servicemen launch businesses after their retirement.