How Some Innocent Durians Reeked HAVOC In England (Pun Intended)
An entire row of city centre shops was evacuated in Plymouth, England -- all because shoppers caught a whiff of durians.
By Sadho Ram — 22 Oct 2013, 09:36 PM — Updated over 10 years ago
Firefighters evacuated a row of city centre shops after being called to a suspected gas leak - only to discover it was the smell of durians!
According to the PlymouthHerald, many customers complained of a gas-like smell, and shop owners reported it as an emergency for precaution. Within minutes, shoppers, office workers and employees of the stores along the street were cordoned off as police, firefighters and staff investigated the 'gas leakage'.
plymouthherald.co.uk
Shoppers, office workers and employees of the stores waited behind a cordon while fire crews investigated the gassy smell on New George Street, at around 4.30pm yesterday.
Nearby businesses were also asked to evacuate, including Cash Converters, Burger King and Betfred. But the culprit of the stench turned out to be a truck load of durian fruit, which were being delivered to Asian grocery store YW Foods behind New George Street.
onenewspage.co.uk
The whole false alarm lasted for about thirty minutes
Dozens of people gathered outside the cordons until the public and shop employees were allowed back into the area at around 5pm. Kam Singh, who helps run the Premier Stores where the alarm was first raised said: "Every customer who was coming were saying they could smell gas.
plymouthherald.co.uk
Lotus We, who works in Y W Foods said: "We'd just had a delivery and put them in the fridges as normal. "Some of the firefighters came in and asked if we had gas, we said no and said it might be the fruit as they have a strong smell. They are a popular fruit in, Malaysia and Thailand – they are sold by weight – one we sold earlier today was RM138.27."
"We rang the gas board and they said they would be here in an hour, and as soon as the fire brigade arrived they told everyone to get out. We have smelt the fruit before, but the shop had a big delivery of them today which made everyone concerned that there might be a leak."
plymouthherald.co.uk
Scott Withey, store manager at Cash Converters said: "I was watching what was going on and saw them cordon off Premier Stores. "I went over to the firefighters and asked them what I should do with having customers and staff inside the store. They told us to come out as they were going to widen the cordon."