A 23-year-old male nurse, rushing home to meet his mother with his first salary earned after taking care of patients in a COVID-19 isolation ward, was killed in a road mishap near here on Friday. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday paid tribute to the youngster in his Facebook page.

After slogging day and night at the isolation ward of the taluk hospital at nearby Kunnamkulam, the nurse was on his way home with his salary when his motorcycle collided with a rice-laden lorry.

Ashif was a temporary nurse and had joined for work in mid-March.

The hospital authorities remembered him as an enthusiastic youth ever willing to help the COVID-19 patients, when many others would hesitate.

He also doubled up a help desk staff.

In his Facebook post, the Chief Minister said during these difficult times, the contribution of Ashif was laudable.

"We join in the sorrow of the family," Vijayan said in the post with the youth's photograph.

Ashif is survivied by his mother and a sister, who is a student-nurse.

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