Alexander (Alexei) Poupov
Alexander (Alexei) PoupovCourtesy of the family

Alexei Poupov, 51, was killed Saturday when a shrapnel fragment struck his upper torso while he was driving his car near Akko (Acre), following a heavy rocket barrage fired from Lebanon at Tzfat, the Haifa region, and the Upper and Western Galilee.

In the vehicle was another person, who was sitting beside the driver, and who was lightly injured after having had time to duck at the sound of the siren.

MDA paramedic Alex Motskin said, "We arrived at the scene and saw a car that was standing on the side of the road and was hit by shrapnel, with shattered windows and destruction in the stores around it. In the car was a 50-year-old man. Next to him was a man in his 40s, who told us that while the alarm was sounding they stopped by the side of the road and suddenly heard an explosion, before they had a chance to get out of the car."

"The driver of the car did not have time to duck and the passenger to his right ducked and put his head between his knees. As a result of the shrapnel, the driver was mortally wounded in the upper torso and after a short time we were forced to pronounce his death. The passenger who was to his right emerged from the car fully conscious and suffering a scratch from a shrapnel fragment near his ear. We provided him with medical treatment and evacuated him to the hospital in a stable condition. We saw with our own eyes the importance of heeding the Home Front Command's instructions: in this case, even the person who did not have time to get out of the car bent over and thus saved his life."

The incident occurred fire to rocket fire from Lebanon that began in the morning hours, and included direct hits in Kiryat Ata and Shlomi, where 13 people were injured in varying degrees and extensive damage was caused to property.