Man who rescued 14 years old girl in Tbilisi posthumously awarded

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has posthumously awarded with a state medal Shota Karseladze who rescued a 14-year-old girl from drowning in the Mtkvari River in Tbilisi on July 3.

President Zurabishvili handed the state award for ‘exemplary civic devotion’ to Karseladze’s mother Marina Garsevanishvili in the Orbeliani presidential palace yesterday. Karseladze's sister and friends also attended the award ceremony. Photo: Administration of President of Georgia. 

Shota Karseladze [is] awarded the medal for Civic Dedication (after death) for exemplary civic devotion, special civic responsibility and personal courage,” reads the order of President Zurabishvili.

Karseladze saved the 14-year-old after she ended up in the Mtkvari River in Tbilisi’s Ortachala district but was unable to return to shore himself. He was 36 years old at the time.