Malaysia's Sydney Consulate agriculture director Muhammad Rudy Khairudin Mohd Nor said the 'gas' alert followed Agriculture Malaysia staff opening 10 packs of 'Musang King' and 'D24' durians at 2 pm for lab tests in their Sydney CBD office.
"The strong, pungent smell of the durians went into the ventilation system and reached the office next to ours on the 15th floor of the Market St building. The staff in the adjoining office, all Caucasians, panicked because they thought there was a gas leak ... they summoned the emergency services. The whole floor was evacuated within minutes," he said.
Muhammad Rudy said security and emergency staff arrived at the 15th floor to investigate and, sniffing out evidence, ended up at the consulate seeking answers.
"We explained that the smell came from the durians. The officers were amazed and puzzled how similar the smell was to gas, although they were convinced after we showed them the fruit and how it smells," he added.
He said the consulate decided to avoid further misunderstandings by moving the durians and the lab testing to the Sydney Malaysia Hall students' accommodation.
"We did not get any complaint from anyone. In fact, the smell was very well received by the Malaysian students, who had not smelt fresh durian for a long time. Who would have thought that exporting durians to Australia could be so challenging?" he said.
The durian is very popular in Sydney but is yet to make its mark in Melbourne, the home of 70,000 Malaysians and 9,000 students.
Source: www.nst.com.my