Passengers leave Indonesian flight crammed with smelly tropical fruit

Cyclists
ride their bikes through a durian seller during stage 4 of the
2014 Tour de Singkarak on June 10, 2014 in Padang,
Indonesia.
Robertus Pudyanto/Getty
Images

• An Indonesian passenger plane was momentarily grounded
  after a spontaneous passenger uprising, Antara reports.
• The pungency of the notorious tropical fruit durian is
  to blame, with passengers refusing to share the flight to
  Jakarta with some two tons of the fruit squeezed into the cargo
  hold.

Indonesia’s
crisis prone aviation industry suffered a decidedly minor
setback on Monday after a Sriwijaya Air flight laden with durian
was delayed when passengers revolted.

A reporter with the Indonesian media group Antara,
who happened to be on the plane, said passengers became agitated
upon encountering the scent of durian wafting through cabin
before takeoff.

According to a reporter Boyke Ledy Watra with Indonesia’s
national news agency, Antara, several passengers were so
overwhelmed that they were “almost coming to blows with flight
crew members.”

Passengers soon began leaving the cabin to mill about on the
tarmac, refusing to board the flight until the source of the
stench was removed, the publication said.

Sriwijaya Air eventually came to reason and reportedly unloaded
some two tons of the fruit which Anthony Bourdain once lamented as “indescribable.”

If you’ve stumbled innocently across a durian,
you will in all likelihood remember
its potent mix of aromas.

Even with the thick spiky husk intact, the unnatural Asian fruit
has such a fearsome, unrelenting stench that it’s widely banned
on most major airlines, mass transit systems and public places
across Asia.

Sriwijaya Air senior corporate communications manager Retri Maya
released a statement in response to the reports, justifying the
airline’s decision to carry the durian.

Sriwijaya attempted to rationalize the airline’s decision to take
on two tons of the cargo by pointing out no laws were broken.

“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,” the airline said, adding: “Many
airlines do this.”