The king of fruits may be adored in Malaysia, but in Germany, its pungent smell caused panic and a series of false alarms.
Last Saturday (Oct 4), firefighters in Wiesbaden, a city in western Germany, were called out four separate times in one day after residents reported a suspected gas leak.
Firefighters rushed in, but no gas found
According to Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), the first emergency call came in the afternoon from a shopping centre, where people thought they could smell leaking gas.
A fire brigade team rushed to the scene and conducted tests — but found no trace of gas in the air.
To their surprise, the building wasn’t even connected to a gas supply system.
The real culprit: durian
Later in the evening, another call came from the same location, claiming the gas smell had returned.
This time, firefighters tracked the odour to its true source — durians being sold inside an Asian supermarket.
Authorities said the shopping centre’s ventilation system likely spread the strong smell throughout the building, tricking residents into thinking it was a gas leak.
On the same night, firefighters were dispatched yet again, this time to a residential area. After checking the premises, they once more found that the smell didn’t come from leaking gas — but from a durian fruit.
While many Malaysians swear by durian as the “King of Fruits,” the thorny delicacy often leaves foreigners overwhelmed.
