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Smelly fruit sparks airline alert
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- A box of smelly tropical fruit sprinkled with carpet deodorizer sparked an aviation alert in Australia on Thursday. A Virgin Blue flight from the eastern city of Brisbane was delayed by four hours after cargo handlers noticed a pungent smell coming from the plane's baggage hold. When they finally found the source of the smell, it was a box of durian, a large, spiny tropical fruit renowned for its fetid aroma. While many people in Southeast Asia consider the durian a delicacy, it is banned from Singapore's subway and some restaurants in the region because of its overpowering smell. Because the fruit on the Virgin Blue plane were covered in the white powder, a full-scale hazardous chemical alert was issued involving police and fire crews evacuated and sealed off the plane, said fire service spokesman Tom James. It was not clear how many people were on the plane. Virgin Blue boss Brett Godfrey denied the airline overreacted. "I don't think in this climate we can be overzealous," he told reporters in Sydney. He added that passenger security was not the only thing at stake. "This wasn't a safety issue, this was gross issue -- no one wants to fly in an airplane that smells like that," he said. He compared the smell of the gourmet fruit to "something you'd find in your outdoor dunny [toilet]" adding that "it just is the most pungent, disgusting smell." "I actually walked out onto the tarmac and I could smell it from 50 feet away, it's not pretty," he said. Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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