Tourist's Pomegranate Juice Order Triggers Bomb Scare In Lisbon
A Russian-speaking tourist accidentally sparked a bomb scare at a restaurant in Lisbon when he asked his translation app to convert the word pomegranate.
In a bizarre turn of events, a tourist’s innocent quest for a refreshing drink in a Lisbon restaurant triggered a bomb scare, all because of a translation mishap. The 36-year-old tourist, a Russian speaker hailing from Azerbaijan, simply wanted to order a pomegranate juice, but fate had a different plan. A language translation app inadvertently replaced “pomegranate" with the Portuguese word for “grenade." The consequence? The tourist found himself in handcuffs, surrounded by police.
The incident unfolded in Lisbon’s Cais do Sodre district when the tourist used the translated word on a napkin to request a drink. The unfortunate app error resulted in a major misunderstanding, with the restaurant staff mistaking the note for a bomb threat and promptly alerting the police.
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A viral video circulating on the internet captures the dramatic turn of events. In the video, the tourist can be seen lying face down on the street as five police officers surround him and proceed to handcuff him. He was then taken to a nearby police station for questioning. Fortunately, following a thorough investigation, it was confirmed that he was not carrying any weapons, and he was subsequently released. While he was being interrogated, law enforcement authorities searched his hotel room, but nothing suspicious was found. Additionally, Lisbon police searched their database and consulted with the country’s counterterrorism unit as part of their investigative efforts.
Cais do Sodré – Magrebino do Azerbaijão com passaporte israelita ameaça lançar uma granada dentro do restaurante Portugália, usando uma aplicação de tradução. Após falar com o MP e a PJ, o magrebino foi libertado.https://t.co/lIZSqshnNl pic.twitter.com/2SX1Sawsmd— Invictus Portucale (@PT_Invictus) October 29, 2023
The Russian language uses the same word for both “pomegranate" and “grenade," which can lead to translation mishaps like the one that occurred in the Lisbon restaurant. In Portuguese, there are distinct words for “pomegranate" (roma) and “grenade" (granada). The language app’s translation confusion stemmed from this linguistic difference, resulting in an unfortunate situation. Furthermore, in October, Portugal elevated its terror threat level from moderate to significant due to recent terrorist attacks in Belgium and the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
In July, a Singapore-based man’s beach vacation in Pattaya took a horrifying turn when he was wrongly arrested at Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport. Kenny Teo, along with three friends had travelled to Thailand on July 6, but he was detained at the airport just before he could catch his return flight. His full name was also featured in various Thai and Singaporean news publications, associating him with a theft case at a Pattaya hotel.
Kenny explained to The Straits Times that the confusion happened from an error made by the T Pattaya Hotel, the establishment where he and his friends had stayed in Pattaya. When the officials understood the mistake, Kenny was let go.
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