Durian Triggers Hilarious Series of “Gas Leak” Calls In German City

By Danial Martinus  •  06 Oct 2025 in News

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4 October was a rather busy Saturday for the fire department of Wiesbaden, a city in western central Germany. But not for the reasons they expected.

What initially began as a routine gas alarm turned into a city-wide hunt for the source of a peculiar gas-like smell. Instead of finding a leaky gas pipe, they found something we Malaysians are very accustomed to: durian fruit.

An “industrial” smell, according to staff at a supermarket

The bizarre series of events began innocently enough at 2.52 p.m. when a supermarket called in a gas emergency after customers and staff caught a whiff of something distinctly “industrial”. Wiesbaden firefighters rushed to the scene, fully expecting a ruptured gas pipeline.

Here’s the kicker, though: the building they were called to didn’t have a gas supply.

Even their sophisticated equipment couldn’t detect anything dangerous in the air. But what they could smell with their own noses obviously told a different story. After a full store ventilation and some collective head scratching, the fire crew left, blaming it on a possible rogue “party gas” cylinder.

The smell, of course, had other plans. Just three hours later, the phones rang again. Another gas alarm at the same shopping centre, reeking of the same mysterious odour.

This time, the fire crew conducted a full sweep of neighbouring stores, with their investigation finally leading them to a nearby Asian supermarket, and more specifically, to a pile of durians sitting in the produce section.

As Malaysians, we all know how beloved and equally infamous durians are. Southeast Asians love them for their rich, custardy flavour, while the rest of the uninitiated world dry-heaves at the slightest whiff of the spiky fruit.

Some people go as far as comparing it to rotten onions and stinky socks. Because of this, it’s widely banned in hotels and on public transport in the region.

Unfortunately for the people of Wiesbaden, the shopping centre’s ventilation system had done its job very, very well, spreading the durians’ distinct aroma throughout the entire building.

By this point in time, the fire crew had already gotten their fair share of durian stink. But at 9.20 p.m., they got another call: same place, same smell. Once again, there was no sign of danger. Just the unmistakable, lingering scent of durians.

But if that wasn’t enough for the Wiesbaden fire brigade, one final alarm came at 10.40 p.m. This time, however, the call came from a residential building away from the supermarket. According to residents, the building’s stairwell reeked of “gas”.

The incident commander at the scene, perhaps now an unofficial “durian expert” thanks to the previous calls, noticed an Asian surname on one of the doorbells and put two and two together.

Sure enough, they found a recently purchased durian sitting proudly in the flat, with its smell permeating through the entire building.

The operation officially wrapped up at 11.15 p.m. with no gas leaks and no danger, but plenty to talk about.

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