A University Library Has Been Evacuated Because of a Really Stinky Fruit

An Australian university library was evacuated after a rotting fruit was mistaken for a gas leak.

Firefighters arrived at the campus of RMIT in Melbourne's CBD around 3pm on Saturday after receiving a call about a suspected gas leak. As a precautionary measure, police evacuated approximately 500 students and teachers.

In a statement entitled "Rotten afternoon on campus", the Metropolitan Fire Brigade described how it conducted a "comprehensive search," eventually discovering the smell was not a chemical gas but rather the gas emitted from a rotting durian fruit.

The spiky fruit, which has an incredibly pungent smell, had been left rotting in a cupboard, according to the statement.

The smell travelled through the building's air-conditioning system.

The custardy flesh inside a durian is an acquired taste, with a sweet flavour to some eaters that others find completely unpalatable.

Anthony Bourdain reportedly once said the fruit's flavour is "indescribable, something you will either love or despise … Your breath will smell as if you'd been French-kissing your dead grandmother."

As one of the world's smelliest fruits, durian is forbidden in many taxis and hotels throughout Asia. Singapore's public transport system has banned the fruit entirely.

This article was originally published by Business Insider.