Month: May 1999
- Phuket News
Airport figures don’t support gloom
PHUKET: In the midst of tales of gloom from Phuket’s retail and hotel sectors, the April figures from Phuket International Airport show a small rise (0.79 percent) in the total number of passengers arriving and departing. There was a hefty 24 percent rise in international travelers, from 76,528 last year to 94,750 this April. This was offset by a fall…
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Phuket’s “Great Mother 1999” announced
PHUKET: The best mum in Phuket is 67-year-old Sukanya Limsomboon, and that’s official. Khun Sukanya, who lives in Thanon Ranong in Phuket Town, has been chosen by the Bangkok-based Social Welfare Council to represent the island at a special ceremony on August 12, which is both HM Queen Sirikit’s birthday and Thai Mother’s Day. She was selected after her daughter-in-law…
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Governor opens King’s Cup Regatta office
CHALONG BAY: The Governor of Phuket, Chadej Insawang, officially opened the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta organizing committee’s permanent office in Chalong Bay on Saturday. At the opening, the committee announced that the 13th Phuket King’s Cup Regatta is scheduled to begin on Monday, December 6, 1999 off Ao Nang in Krabi and finish on Saturday, December 11, 1999 at Kata…
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264 hurt in crashes in Patong in April
PATONG: A total of 264 were injured in traffic accidents in the Patong area in April, of which 67, or 25%, were foreigners. There were no fatalities. Patong Hospital reported that 238 of the victims, or 90%, were riding motorcycles. Only 48 were wearing helmets. It added that 77, or about one one-third, of the injured were under the influence…
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Sea World project a dead duck for now
CAPE PANWA: Phuket’s ambition to build a major tourist attraction around its sea life has been put on hold, indefinitely. The original plan was to build a “Sea World”, costing about 1.5 billion baht, as a major tourist attraction. The centrepiece of the facility would have been a huge three-storey-high, 2-million-litre aquarium with a glass tunnel running through it, allowing…
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Boxes on sale for Phuket Rugby Sevens
PHUKET: Organisers of the Phuket Rugby Sevens have announced that corporate boxes for the two-day international event are now available. The tournament takes place at Saphan Hin, Phuket Town, on July 3 and 4, and will feature top international teams from Asia and Europe. The boxes cost 60,000 baht and include 15 tickets and two meals per person per day.…
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Sun Vista sinks off Malaysia
PENANG: The luxury cruise liner Sun Vista, a familiar sight in the waters off Phuket, sank at 1:22 this morning after its engine room caught fire yesterday. The 210-meter ship, which was en route to Singapore with 472 passengers and 632 crew, went down about 60 nautical miles south of Penang. The Gazette understands that everyone on board was rescued…
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Inferno yacht to be salvaged
PHUKET: The Head of the Harbour Master’s Office has told the Gazette that the wreck of the yacht Catalina, which burned and sank in Chalong Bay in March, will be salvaged. Khun Soontree Hirunwan said that following talks with a representative of the Catalina’s owners, a salvage company has been contracted to raise the wreck in the coming week. Following…
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Security guard returns 1.4 million baht to owner
PHUKET AIRPORT: Japanese visitor Mitsuru Yamaguchi is a lucky man. After arriving in Phuket on Saturday, the Hokkaido businessman mislaid his tote bag containing his passport, return ticket and the equivalent of 1.4 million baht in cash at the airport. And he got it all back, thanks to Aroon Sanghiran, a guard with Group A Security, which provides security for…
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Chicken wholesaler shot dead
PHUKET TOWN: Chicken farmer and wholesaler Yunud Kayankit was shot in the head in the garage of his Koh Kaew home early yesterday morning. He died in the emergency room at Wachira Hospital. Phuket Town Police told the Gazette that Khun Yunud, 31, was shot twice, once in the left cheek and once in the forehead, as he prepared to…
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Poll: Most people want Soi Bangla closed to traffi
PHUKET: Just under two thirds of the voters in the latest Gazette online poll believe that Patong’s Soi Bangla should be closed to traffic and designated “pedestrians only”. But, interestingly, there was a considerable difference of opinion between foreigners and Thais. Participants in the poll were asked to vote on the statement “Soi Bangla should be closed to vehicles and…
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Fisherman finds unidentified corpse
THALANG: A fisherman yesterday found the body of an unidentified man in the water near Baan Tah Chat Chai. Police said the dead man was Asian, dressed in brown trousers and shirt. They estimated his age at around 25 to 30 years, and his height at about 1.6 metres. The corpse carried no identification, but police believe he may have…
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Emergency helicopter saves sick islander
ANDAMAN SEA: A police helicopter from Phuket braved stormy weather earlier this week to rush a woman with acute appendicitis from Koh Yao Yai to hospital in Phuket Town. The woman, 35-year-old Khun Sukanya Jittanavee, was whisked from the island to Phuket’s Wachira Hospital on Tuesday for emergency surgery, thanks to a new initiative by the Phuket Provincial Health Office…
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Drivers advised to divert around sewerage work
PHUKET TOWN: Drivers are advised to avoid possible traffic jams caused by the laying of sewers on Mae Luan Rd (see yesterday’s story, below) by using Susan Rd, around the Sarakul Stadium. The diversion will be signposted. At a later stage, parts of Si Sena Rd, Si Suthat Rd, Amphoe Rd, Surin Rd, Luang Pho Rd, Wichit Songkram Rd and…
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Phuket prepares for regional sports contest
PHUKET TOWN: The local office of the Sports Authority of Thailand is currently putting together the squad to represent Phuket in the “Four Ages Sports Against Drugs” tournament in Songkhla between May 29 and June 2. Khun Wirat Visuttarom, head of the office, explained that the purpose of the tournament is to promote sport, to build relationships between various groups…
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Rugby star’s wife hospitalised after accident
PHUKET TOWN: The wife of top Australian rugby player Kerrod Walters was rushed to the Bangkok Phuket Hospital in the early hours of Sunday (May 9) after an accident in a tuk-tuk near the Safari Club in Patong. Mr Walters told the Gazette that his wife Maureen, 31, was on holiday in Phuket with a friend, staying at the Patong…
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Pipe work begins on wastewater treatment system
PHUKET TOWN: Traffic on Mae Luan Road is likely to be disrupted for about three months from next Monday (May 17) as pipe-laying work begins on the second phase of Phuket Town’s sewerage system. The excavations will extend from the offices of Phuket Prevention Guard Co to the junction with Wichit Songkram Road. Phase 1 of the project, which involved…
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Mountain hikes to resume
PATTANI PROVINCE: Local authorities here have decided to repeat their successful eco-hikes to the top of Sankalakiri Mountain, the highest peak in southern Thailand. Over the course of two days and one night, hikers will be guided through the forest and to the top of the mountain. From the summit, 1,300 metres above sea level, they can look down into…
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Governor urges tougher action against drugs
PHUKET TOWN: The Governor of Phuket, Chadej Insawang, has urged the Phuket Office of Narcotics Control to work harder to stamp out drug use on the island. At a meeting of the Narcotics Control Committee yesterday, the Governor said that although the spread of narcotics in Phuket was “moderate” he was very unhappy that it existed at all. He pointed…
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Advice on spotting funny money
PHUKET TOWN: Khun Chaiyos Chinda-Udomset, president of the Phuket Commercial Banks Association, has offered advice on how the public can identify forged 1,000- and 500-baht notes that are circulating in Thailand. He said the fake bills are printed on thinner paper than the real ones, and the surface of the paper is more slippery than that of genuine notes. In…
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Taxmen on target for 2.5 billion baht
PHUKET TOWN: Halfway through the revenue year, (October 1, 1998 – Spetember 30, 1999), Phuket’s taxmen have collected almost exactly half their targeted tax. Against a budget of 2,459.496,000 baht for the full year, 1,233.884,000 baht, or 50.17%, had been achieved during the six months to March 30, 1999. All revenues are up apart from the Special Business Tax, which…
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Eleven dead of AIDS in past month
PHUKET TOWN: The government Health Office recorded 11 AIDS-related deaths in Phuket province during the month to April 20, and 30 new cases of full-blown AIDS. The new cases bring to 945 the number registered by the Phuket Provincial Health Department since it began keeping records of AIDS cases in January 1989. Of the 945 cases, 403 are, or were,…
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Bank officer testifies in Tong murder trial
PHUKET TOWN: The prosecution called a bank officer to the witness stand at the Phuket Provincial Courthouse today, in the resumption of the trial of five people charged in connection with the murder of businessman Danis Wayne Tong. Manit Panme, Prajuab Sukkong, Pairat Raksawong, Pratin Praktong and Belgian entrepreneur Hugo Vandervelde stand accused of taking part in a murder-for-hire scheme…
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Gazette Special Edition hits the streets
PHUKET TOWN: The fifth anniversary issue of the Phuket Gazette was released today – a special edition that includes a complimentary, full copy of the May 1994 issue, the very first Gazette. Celebrate with us! Get your copy now — it’s full of news and views, including: · Why Phuket continues to suffer from water shortages; · How tourists may…
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