What is the metro broadcast in the Paris metro for a suspicious package?

Question

I was in the Paris metro and the train got stopped due to a suspicious package. I didn't understand the broadcast message because it was in French. I only became aware of this after everyone went out and some other passenger told me what happened. Now I am really curious what the broadcast message is for such situations (so I can listen to it repeatedly and recognize it next time).

Answer 1

The key word is 'colis suspect' (which is the translation of your question), but as stated by Frank, it would rarely be announced by the driver, but instead will be written on the station's screens, and sometime announced on station speakers (which 9 times out of 10, you won't be able to hear/understand while in the train, even as a native French).

Other keywords:
Incident/accident voyageur (they are calling an ambulance).
Accident grave voyageur (they won't bother with ambulance).

Answer 2

If the announcement was only made in French, it means it was made by the metro driver. They have the discretion on the exact phrasing of the announcement, so we can’t guess it. Your best bet is to follow the crowd or use some live translation app (but that’ll likely have issues handling the announcement audio quality).

Answer 3

The term is "colis suspect" (koh-lee sus-pay) or "colis abandonné", (koh-lee aban-donnay). However, you should be aware that this sort of announcement has somewhat become of a meme in France, in the sense that the situation will never be handled by authorities or anyone else in a way that makes sense if the package had a reasonable chance of being an actual bomb. There even was an incident earlier this year with a passenger opening the "colis" themselves because they knew it would make the train late for no reason.

Statistically, you ought to be far more worried about crossing the street in Paris than of any terrorist act. If you don't experience anxiety over crossing the street, then you shouldn't with this either.