Victim, 50, reportedly pulled his car to the side of the road and was critically injured by shrapnel to his upper body; his passenger, who ducked and shielded his head, sustained only minor injuries.
The driver killed on saturday by Hezbollah rocket shrapnel on Highway 22 near Acre has been identified as Alexei Popov, 50, from Kiryat Haim. Popov sustained injuries to his upper body, while a friend traveling with him in the car was lightly injured.
Hours after the incident, police officers arrived at Popov’s home to notify his wife of his death. A family friend noted that Popov had no other relatives in Israel, and his two children live in Ukraine.
Neighbors told Ynet that Popov had been returning from grocery shopping when he was killed. "I heard screams and crying from their apartment upstairs and realized they had informed his wife of his death," said Maria, a neighbor.
"They were a wonderful couple, always together. She had recently traveled to Ukraine to visit her new grandchild, and he missed her terribly, waiting for her to return."
Popov was pronounced dead at the scene. "We arrived and saw a car on the side of the road, heavily damaged by shrapnel. The windows were shattered, and nearby stores were also damaged," Magen David Adom paramedic Alex Motskin said.
According to the paramedic, Popov's friend recounted that they had pulled over when the siren sounded, but the explosion occurred before Popov could exit the vehicle. "The passenger ducked down and shielded his head. He emerged from the car fully conscious, with a minor shrapnel wound near his ear. Unfortunately, the driver was critically injured in the upper body, and we pronounced him dead shortly after."