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Fruit’s pungent smell mistaken for gas leak, prompts panic

Fruit's pungent smell mistaken for gas leak, prompts panic | iNFOnews.ca
FILE - In this Nov. 25, 2017, file photo, a cut Musang King durian is shown by a vendor during the International Durian Cultural Tourism Festival in Bentong, Malaysia. The pungent smell of the rotten durian fruit at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology university campus library in Melbourne, Australia, on Saturday, April 28, 2018, was mistaken for a gas leak, prompting an evacuation of the building. Specialist crews wearing masks searched the library, but all they found was rotting durian in a cupboard. About 600 staff and students cleared the building. (AP Photo/Sadiq Asyraf, File)

MELBOURNE, Australia – The pungent smell of the rotten durian fruit at an Australian university library has been mistaken for a gas leak, prompting an evacuation of the building.

Specialist crews wearing masks searched the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology university campus library on Saturday, but all they found was rotting durian in a cupboard.

About 600 staff and students had cleared the building.

A Metropolitan Fire Brigade spokesman said the smell alarmed staff and students as it permeated the air-conditioning system.

Durian is a tropical fruit known for its strong smell. It is commonly banned from hotel rooms and public transport across Southeast Asia.

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Abbey Westbury

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