This weekend, 500 people were evacuated from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia after the smell of a rotting durian fruit was mistaken for a gas leak! (If you know what durian fruit smells like then you understand why.)
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After receiving reports about the smell of gas, emergency service crews were called. Students and staff were asked to leave the building as a precaution while firefighters in specialist masks carried out a “comprehensive search” 1 of the campus library on Saturday afternoon (the building is known to store “potentially dangerous chemicals”).2
However, nothing except a durian fruit was found.
In a statement, the fire service said,
“After a comprehensive search, firefighters identified the smell was not chemical gas, but gas generated from rotting durian, an extremely pungent fruit which had been left rotting in a cupboard.”3
Apparently, the fruit, which is often compared to onions or even sewage, made its way through the building via the air conditioning system!
Have you ever tasted durian? Do you love it or hate it? Do you have any recipes for it? If so, share them with us all!
XO- Erin
