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A BA jet
diverted after passengers thought they smelt poison gas was really
grounded by curry.
The flight
from Belgrade to London made an emergency evacuation after passengers
panicked, fearing a terrorist gas attack.
But an
official investigation into the incident at the Nikola Tesla Airport
in the Serbian capital has revealed the fumes had escaped from a
giant container of curry spices in the plane's cargo hold.
"The
smell spread from the package of an aromatic food spice,"
confirmed the Serbian Ministry for the Protection of Human Environment.
At first,
officials suspected a canister of powerful acidic chemicals had burst
open in the hold.
But health
officials have blamed the curry for the security scare.
"The
chemical that was found in the cargo hold of the airplane did not
leak out," said the spokesman. "It was
sodium-selenite. But the smell did not spread from there."
Dozens of
passengers had to flee the plane after it was returned to Belgrade
and contained on a special emergency procedure runway at the airport.
Emergency
workers wearing breathing apparatus helped screaming passengers off
the plane before the source of the fumes was discovered.
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