The durian, known as the king of fruits across Southeast Asia, is famous for its strong, almost polarising smell. Some say it has a sweet and nutty flavour, others find it overpowering, comparing its scent to rotten onions or old cheese. In fact, the durian fruit's pungent smell is so intense that residents of the German city Wiesbaden in the western state of Hesse called firefighters three times in a day, mistaking the odour for a gas leak. On October 4, visitors at one of Wiesbaden's shopping centres called the fire brigade, believing there was a dangerous gas emission nearby.
According to German media, the firefighters conducted some thorough checks at the shopping centre but could not identify any gas leaks. A few hours later, they were alerted again after receiving similar reports from the same area. This time around, the firefighters searched the nearby shops as well and were finally able to understand where the foul smell was coming from.
They revealed that the gas leak scent was actually the penetrating waft of the durian fruit sold at an Asian supermarket. “According to the authorities, the shopping centre's ventilation system presumably distributed the smell throughout the building,” shared state-owned broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
Also Read: This Is The World's Most Expensive Cheese, Sold For Rs 36 Lakh At Auction
The chaos did not stop there. On the same day in the evening, complaints regarding a similar pungent gas odour forced the residents of an apartment building to call the firefighters once more. As is evident, it turned out that a flat dweller had bought the thorny fruit.
This is one of the many incidents related to the durian fruit. Earlier in September, the fruit sparked a frenzy in the English town of Lytham St Anne's. Later, a gas engineer arrived at the town to solve the matter. In 2021, a similar incident unfolded in Canberra, where firefighters rushed to a grocery store in the city's Dickson shopping. Reason? Multiple alerts about a suspected gas leak. And guess what? The five fighters once again discovered that the culprit was the famously pungent durian.
Just a few days back, a Chinese family ate and finished off 5.5 kg of durian outside an airport because the fruit was banned to carry in the flight. Read more about it here.
Infamous for its odour, durian fruits are banned from several hotels and public transport.