An Indonesian airliner was delayed for an hour after passengers complained of an overpowering stench released from a load of the notorious thorny fruit durian, according to reports.
About 2 tons of the world’s stinkiest fruit was in the cargo hold of the Jakarta-bound Sriwijaya Air flight at Bengkulu in Sumatra, the BBC reported.
Boyke Ledy Watra, a reporter with Indonesia’s Antara news agency who was aboard the fetid flight, said passengers began arguing with the crew — with some almost coming to blows with flight attendants.
The airline eventually agreed to remove the offending fruit and the plane took off an hour behind schedule Monday morning.
Sriwijaya Air later insisted that it was not illegal to transport durian “as long as it is wrapped properly in accordance with flight regulations — carried inside the hold.”
“Many airlines do this,” it told the Jakarta Post.
The late Anthony Bourdain reportedly described durian as “something you will either love or despise … Your breath will smell as if you’d been French-kissing your dead grandmother,” according to Smithsonian.com.
Food writer Richard Sterling has described its odor as “turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock.”
The fruit is a delicacy in much of Asia, but its foul smell means it’s banned from public transportation, hotels and planes in some countries.
“When I entered the plane, I could already smell the scent of durian. I complained to the stewardess but they told me to just fill up a complaint form,” passenger Amir Zidane wrote on Facebook, the BBC reported.
The flight attendants assured him the smell would dissipate once the plane was airborne. Unsatisfied, Zidane rallied his fellow fliers.
“I yelled at the other passengers, ‘Who on this plane wants to fly?’ They all chanted back, ‘Not us!!’” he said.
Eventually, all the passengers were asked to leave the plane as workers unloaded the reeking cargo.
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