A German post office was forced to evacuate and six workers were sent to the hospital while twelve more received medical treatment due to a suspected package, which turned out to be a package of Durian fruit.
A post office staff in the Bavarian town of Schweinfurt on Saturday called for police, firefighters, and emergency services after noticing the distinct pungent smell coming from a package.
“Due to the unknown content, it was initially unclear whether the suspect package posed a greater risk,” the Schweinfurt police department explained in a statement.
Around 60 employees were forced to evacuate the building, before officers carefully examined the package in question, fearing that it was releasing a harmful gas.
As it turns out, it contains four Thai durians, which is sent to a 50-year-old resident by a friend in Nuremberg, and it was eventually delivered to the recipient.
“A total of twelve postal workers who complained of nausea had to be taken care of on site,” the police said.
The incident prompted a dispatch of six ambulances, five first-responder cars and two emergency vehicles, and involved three different fire departments.
The durian is popular throughout Southeast Asia by its flavor and creamy texture, as well as its infamous scent, that food writer Richard Sterling once wrote that is has a scent of “turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock.”
According to Smithsonian magazine, a mixture of chemicals in the fruit creates its unique scent.
The notoriety of the fruit’s odor is prompted Singapore to ban the fruit in its subway system; same goes for many hotels especially in Southeast Asia.
This is not the first time the durian fruit caused panic in public places.
In November 2018, an Indonesian plane was temporarily grounded after passengers complained about a the stench caused by a cargo of the notorious fruit.