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Whether you love or hate durians, you can definitely recognise the distinct smell if they are present in the vicinity.

However, those who are unfamiliar with how pungent the king of fruits can get, especially in other countries, may mistake its smell for a gas leak.

Reports of a gas leak in a shop in Canberra, Australia on Oct. 15 triggered emergency services to investigate at the scene.

About an hour after an advisory was put out in public, the source of the smell was discovered to have been caused by a durian.

Suspected gas leak reports

The Australia Capital Territory (ACT) Emergency Services Agency first published a post about a suspected gas leak in the Dickson Shops in Canberra.

The local fire and rescue crews were sent to investigate and locate the source of the supposed leak.

They advised the community to avoid the area, adding that no exclusion zones were set up.

Durian confirmed as the source

The ACT Emergency Agency shared another update at 1:02pm, announcing that the source of the supposed leak was located.

After an hour of investigating at the scene, the firefighters were advised of the potential source of the incident by the owner of a tenancy above the shops, they said.

A short investigation was all it took for the crews to confirm that the pungent smell that was mistaken for a gas leak had originated from a durian.

They added a brief description about the fruit's "very pungent smell" that can "waft some distance".

It appears that such incidents are not unheard of as one Phuong Tran commented in the first Facebook post that it could be someone eating a durian, even before the second Facebook post confirming the source was published.

The amusing twist of events also garnered the second Facebook post 1,700 reactions, 875 comments and 692 shares at the time of writing, which far exceeded the engagements of the first Facebook post.

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This is not the first time the smell of a durian has been identified as the source of suspected gas leaks in Australia.

Top images by Gliezl Bancal via Unsplash and ACT Emergency Services Agency's Facebook page.

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