By Rich Bowden, M&C Staff Writer Oct 3, 2007, 10:49 GMT
(M&C) - A Thai chef preparing a red-hot sauce using bird's eye chillies caused a commotion as eye-watering fumes wafted out into the street creating fears of a chemical attack.
Children pose in circles of chili stringed to be sundried in a village in Pingba county in southwest China's Guizhou province, 26 August 2007. EPA/LUCIAN LU
Emergency services were called, and police sealed off several streets around the Thai Cottage restaurant in Soho before discovering the source of the acrid fumes.
Police broke down the door of the restaurant before emerging into the street with the pot of fried chillies.
Chef at the restaurant Chalemchai Tangjariyapoon said, "I was making a spicy dip with extra-hot chillies that are deliberately burnt. To us it smells like burnt chilli and it is slightly unusual."
"I can understand why people who weren't Thai would not know what it was. But it doesn't smell like chemicals. I'm a bit confused."
A police spokesman said in a statement, "The street was closed off for three hours while we were trying to discover the source of the odour."
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