Residents in German city call fire department over ‘gas leak’ that turned out to be smell of durians

GERMANY: When a strong smell in the German city of Wiesbaden alarmed some residents, they called in the fire department, believing that a gas leak had occurred. As it turned out, it was Southeast Asia’s King of Fruits, the durian, that was behind the pungent smell.

The German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported last week that some people mistook the smell of durian for gas on Oct 4 and that visitors called the fire department in Wiesbaden four times to a shopping centre in the city.

Firefighters examined the scene, looking for a gas leak, and found none. Moreover, the shopping centre did not even have a gas line to begin with.

In spite of this, people called in emergency services to come again that evening over the same concerns. After some time, the authorities were able to determine that the smell came from an Asian grocery store nearby, which was selling durians. It appears that the ventilation system of the shopping centre had picked up the smell of the durians and was circulating it into different parts of the building.

Another report said that the last call for emergency services was made at 10:40 that evening, this time to a block of flats, where there were concerns over another gas leak. A resident living in one of those flats had bought a durian from the Asian grocery store, and the smell had lingered in the stairwell and other parts of the block.

When the German news site Hessenschau reported on the incident, it referred to durian as “Stinkfrucht” or stinky fruit.

2020 incident

This is not the first time in recent years that durians have caused an emergency in Germany. In 2020, after the staff at the post office in the Bavarian town of Schweinfurt noticed a strong smell coming from a package, the Police, firefighters, and emergency services were called.

The incident caused the building to be evacuated. According to a CNN report, about 60 employees left the building, and a dozen postal workers who had complained of nausea were given medical treatment.

When the package was opened, there were four durians in it, which had been sent to Schweinfurt from Nuremberg. It was later brought to the resident to whom it had been sent.

Emergency services were also called in to suspected gas leak incidents in Melbourne in 2018 and Canberra in 2019, which turned out to be the smell of durian. /TISG

Read also: ‘The quality of durian this year is not ideal’— Durian season began late this year, retailers pointed out that there was shortage of stock