Passenger Plane Grounded Over Stinky Durian Fruit
- 5 years ago
Passengers on a Sriwijaya Air flight headed to Jakarta staged a protest, insisting that a large shipment of the foul-smelling fruit durian be removed from the plane.
Passengers on a Sriwijaya Air flight headed to Jakarta from Bengkulu, Indonesia, staged a protest, insisting that a large shipment of the foul-smelling fruit durian be removed from the plane, reports the BBC. While their demands were initially brushed off by the crew, the situation quickly escalated and some disagreements reportedly came close to getting physical, according to Australia's ABC News. The airline eventually gave in and the passengers were deplaned while the roughly two tons of durian was unloaded. Sriwijaya Air later defended its decision to take on the odorous cargo. It said in a statement: "It's not illegal to carry durian in a flight as long as it is wrapped properly in accordance with flight regulations - carried inside the hold. Many airlines do this." So how bad is the smell? According to Smithsonian.com, food writer Richard Sterling once described it as "turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock," and noted, "It can be smelled from yards away."
Passengers on a Sriwijaya Air flight headed to Jakarta from Bengkulu, Indonesia, staged a protest, insisting that a large shipment of the foul-smelling fruit durian be removed from the plane, reports the BBC. While their demands were initially brushed off by the crew, the situation quickly escalated and some disagreements reportedly came close to getting physical, according to Australia's ABC News. The airline eventually gave in and the passengers were deplaned while the roughly two tons of durian was unloaded. Sriwijaya Air later defended its decision to take on the odorous cargo. It said in a statement: "It's not illegal to carry durian in a flight as long as it is wrapped properly in accordance with flight regulations - carried inside the hold. Many airlines do this." So how bad is the smell? According to Smithsonian.com, food writer Richard Sterling once described it as "turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock," and noted, "It can be smelled from yards away."