Year: 2006
- Phuket News
Jungceylon white knight unmasked
PHUKET CITY: The mystery white knight who has ridden to the rescue of the Jungceylon project was revealed this afternoon as Real Estate Capital Asia Partners (Recap), a private real estate investment fund owned by US and Singaporean interests.Recap is a Cayman Islands-registered 50:50 joint venture between the Baupost Group of Boston, Massachusetts, and Singapore’s City Developments Ltd.It was set…
Read More » - Phuket News
Moves to make Patong Beach “more orderly’
PATONG: Vice-Governor Worapot Ratthasima on Tuesday was appointed chairman of a committee charged with cleaning up Patong Beach and ensuring that beach operators are regulated.Committee member and Patong Municipality Chief Administrative Officer Poonsak Naksena said that the known 55 renters of beach chairs and umbrellas have until by February 24 to tidy up the layout of their 2,300-odd umbrellas and…
Read More » - Phuket News
Police arrest 12 on Ranong “visa run’
RANONG: Twelve foreign tourists were pulled off a “visa run” bus just 40 miles from Ranong and confined to a jail cell overnight for overstaying their visas. The company that arranged the tour claims that the arresting officers, from the Tourist Police and Highway Police, demanded 5,000 baht from each of the overstayed tourists in exchange for letting them go.…
Read More » - Phuket News
‘White knight’ rescues Jungceylon
PATONG: A mystery white knight has ridden to the rescue of the stalled Jungceylon megamall project, buying 53% of the mall’s operating company from one of the two main partners, who have been at loggerheads for months.The identity of the white knight is being kept secret for the moment, but it is understood to be a major investment fund, which…
Read More » - Phuket News
Ticket scam accused skips bail
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Court has issued an arrest warrant for 24-year-old Briton Jonathan Duncan after he failed to appear in court on February 6 to face fraud charges.Duncan was arrested on August 30 last year, following complaints by people who had bought cheap air tickets from him.It is alleged that Duncan bought the air tickets by fraudulently using other…
Read More » - Phuket News
Thaksin should listen more, says TRT party-list MP
PHUKET CITY: In the wake of anti-Government protests in Bangkok last weekend, Thai Rak Thai party-list MP Dr Premsak Pearyura yesterday called for Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to make changes to his leadership style.Visiting Phuket in his capacity as Vice-President of the Parliamentary Natural Resources and Environment Committee, the outspoken MP from Khon Kaen made a vague call for the…
Read More » - Thailand News
Miss Chicky gets herself fingered
PATONG: It is well-known that women, in general, spend more money than men in the effort to keep themselves attractive. But for men trying to pass themselves off as women, expenses are greater still. In the case of one Thai post-op ladyboy, the costs of ongoing upkeep proved so great that he turned to a life of crime. At 10…
Read More » - Phuket News
Nai Harn, Kata Noi to get warning towers
PHUKET: The iTV television network has donated 4.5 million baht for the construction of two tsunami warning towers, one at Nai Harn Beach and one at Kata Noi Beach, neither of which currently has warning towers.Tawee Homhuan, an engineer with the Phuket Public Works and Town and Country Planning Office, told the Gazette yesterday that his office has already received…
Read More » - Phuket News
Girl, 16, charged over baby’s death
CHALONG: The 16-year-old mother of a newborn baby found dead in the women’s toilet at Wat Chalong surrendered to the police yesterday evening.The corpse, a 3-kilogram boy with the umbilical cord still attached, was discovered on February 1 in a water tank in the toilet, during Wat Chalong’s annual fair.Pol Maj Chana Sutthimas, an Inspector with the Chalong Police, told…
Read More » - Phuket News
Mediation ends Jungceylon deadlock
PHUKET: The deadlock that resulted in a complete halt to construction of the Jungceylon complex in Patong has finally been broken, and the complex is expected to be open for next high season, Samrarn Yothayai, Chief Judge of Phuket Provincial Court, has told the Gazette.Jungceylon, which occupies 55 rai of land off Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd, was due to open…
Read More » - Phuket News
PTT, Shell, cut fuel prices by B0.40
THAILAND: Thai petroleum giants Shell and PTT today announced that they have both dropped fuel prices by 40 satang a liter.In a press release, Chaivat Churitti, Senior Executive Vice President of the Oil Business Group of PTT, explained that average prices of oil on world markets had fallen recently, and PTT had therefore decided to lower retail prices of all…
Read More » - Phuket News
OrBorJor to help resuscitate abandoned hospital
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) plans to join with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) to buy and renovate the abandoned Phya Thai Phuket Hospital on Soi Si Sena, just outside Phuket City. Under the plan, the 190-room facility – providing both inpatient and outpatient services – would be reopened under the name Vachira Phuket Hospital 2. The…
Read More » - Phuket News
Experts discuss tsunami damage to coral
PHUKET CITY: Some 13% of reefs inspected after the tsunami had 50% or more of their coral destroyed by the waves, experts from Japan and Thailand, as well as local divers, were told yesterday at a seminar at the Phuket Merlin Hotel. In many other places, however, the coral was undamaged.Spearheading the seminar was Sakanan Plathong. He led a team…
Read More » - Phuket News
Driver dies in third limo smash in 12 days
THALANG: The driver of an airport minibus was killed instantly when his vehicle smashed into a water truck on the airport road yesterday morning. This was the third fatal accident involving airport transport vehicles in just 12 days. Pol Lt Col Jamroon Plaiduang, an Inspector at Thalang Police Station, told the Gazette that the white minibus, bearing the logo of…
Read More » - Phuket News
Seven arrested with forged visas
THALANG: Phuket Immigration on Wednesday arrested seven Bangladeshi men who tried to enter Thailand through Phuket International Airport using forged visas.Pol Col Chirdchai Rattanametanon, the new Superintendent of the Phuket Immigration Office, told the Gazette that the men were arrested at Immigration at about 9 pm after arriving in Phuket on a flight from Singapore. Col Chirdchai explained, “They didn’t…
Read More » - Phuket News
Newborn baby found dead in toilet
CHALONG: The corpse of a newborn baby was discovered in a water tank in a toilet at Wat Chalong during the temple’s annual fair. The gruesome discovery occurred just after midnight on Wednesday morning.The baby, a 3-kilogram boy with the umbilical cord still attached, was found naked in an open tank in the woman’s restroom,.Pol Maj Chana Sutthimas, an Inspector…
Read More » - Phuket News
Austrian’s extradition sought after jet-ski death
KAMALA: Kathu Police are to seek the extradition of an Austrian in connection with the death of a Thai man, allegedly killed by a jet-ski while spearfishing near Laem Hin on January 25. Kathu Police Superintendent Pol Col Teeraphol Thipjaroen today told the Gazette that the Austrian, a 29-year-old tourist, was questioned after the incident but was released because of…
Read More » - Thailand News
Not a lot of joy, really
PHUKET: The time-honored teenage tradition of joyriding is alive and well in Phuket – and two young men are dead as a result of it. In the first incident, at about 1 am on January 20, a young man who had just started working at a car care shop in Koh Kaew decided to take his boss’s black Toyota Altis…
Read More » - Phuket News
Duncanson victorious on Phang Nga Bay
PHANG NGA BAY: Winds of 13 knots gusting to 18 turned today into a day of thrills in the 2006 QBE Phang Nga Bay Regatta, after three days of less exciting breezes.Despite being left behind by the fleet in the lee of Koh Phi Phi Don, Scott Duncanson and crew aboard G4S (also known as Somtam Express) recovered to win…
Read More » - Phuket News
Valentine’s Day goes to the dogs
THALANG: Valentine’s Day, traditionally reserved for displays of love between humans, will get a canine twist in the Year of the Dog. On February 14, the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office (PPLO) will stage the official opening of the Mid Road Dog Shelter in a ceremony to be presided over by Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura.Dr Wirapab Termkiatpaisarn, head of the PPLO’s…
Read More » - Cannabis News
Gambling trumps other arrests – again
PHUKET: Statistics released by Phuket Provincial Police show that gambling came out trumps, once again topping the arrests table between January 1 and 25, with 168 people nabbed for gambling-related offenses. Thirty-two cases involved the sale of illegal underground lottery tickets.Three murders were reported during the period, with two cases solved. There were five cases of attempted murder, and in…
Read More » - Phuket News
Rang Hill rogues terrorize tourists
PHUKET CITY: Two rogue monkeys are wreaking havoc atop Rang Hill, where they have been terrorizing tourists, stealing food from diners in a hillside restaurant – and even biting people.News of the primate pests was reported to the Kusoldharm Foundation volunteer rescue service by staff at the Tunk-ka Cafe on January 26, months after the monkeys first appeared. Sukontip Kitsubun,…
Read More » - Phuket News
Burmese woman found beaten to death
THALANG: A 27-year-old Burmese woman identified only as “Ya” was found beaten to death on January 28 near an abandoned tin mine in Baan Prujampa, Tambon Thepkrasattri. From the condition of her body, investigators believe that she had died about three days earlier.Pol Lt Col Jamroon Plaiduang, Inspector at Thalang Police Station, said that officers visited the house nearby where…
Read More » - Phuket News
Phi Phi locals “don’t need Bangkok’s help’
PHI PHI: At a meeting today to discuss the future of the Phi Phi Islands – following the inconclusive talks on January 21 with Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop – local people made it clear that they regard the participation of the Organization for Specific Areas Administration for Sustainable Tourism Promotion (OSAASTP) in future plans and actions as superfluous.After listening…
Read More » - Phuket News
THAI adamant on axing Aussie flights
PHUKET: Despite an appeal from Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura, Thai Airways International (THAI) says it will stick to its decision to suspend direct flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Phuket, effective February 1.Kalayapha Panich, the airline’s Phuket-based District Sales Manager for Upper-Southern Thailand, said that the direct flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Phuket will be rerouted to Bangkok.She added, “The…
Read More » - Phuket News
Top artists working on tsunami sculptures
PHUKET: The Office of Contemporary Art and Culture in Bangkok and the Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi Provincial Cultural Offices have commissioned artists to create tsunami memorial sculptures to be erected at Kamala Beach, Bang Niang Beach in Phang Nga Province, and on Phi Phi Don.The Director of the Phuket Provincial Cultural Office, Thawichat Intararit, told the Gazette, “Award-winning Thai…
Read More » - Phuket News
Princess to attend prayers at Big Buddha site
PHUKET: HRH Princess Ubol Ratana Rajakanya will attend a prayer ceremony at the Mingmongkol Buddha project site, in the Nakkerd Hills between Karon and Chalong, at 5 pm on February 11. Suporn Vanichkul, President of the Mingmongkol Faith 45 project committee that is raising funds for the project, told the Gazette that work on the group’s mammoth Phra Puttamingmongkol Akenakkiri…
Read More » - Phuket News
Gov steps into battle over yacht recovery fee
PHUKET: Chris Sieber and his wife Surapa Srijutanat – owners of Kilo, the Phuket-based catamaran that was recently recovered off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands after going missing in December – have received a promise of help from Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura to try to reduce the massive salvage fee being demanded by the Indian Coast Guard.The 46-foot Kilo went missing from Phuket on…
Read More » - Phuket News
B1.4bn sports complex proposed for Mai Khao
MAI KHAO: The province will seek private-sector funding for a proposed 1.4-billion-baht sports complex and exhibition center to be sited on 617 rai of government land at the northern tip of the island.Promchote Traivate, Head of the Phuket Office of Sports and Recreation Development, told the Gazette that a committee formed to study the feasibility of such a project presented…
Read More » - Phuket News
Fever kills 138 water buffaloes in Phang Nga
PHUKET: More than 138 water buffaloes in the Thai Muang and Takuapa Districts of Phang Nga Province have died from hemorrhagic septicemia, known locally as “swollen neck fever”. Health officials in the province have declared an epidemic and all cattle and buffalo slaughterhouses in the two districts have been closed for at least 30 days.The disease, which normally occurs at…
Read More » - Phuket News
Trial of Brit’s killer to begin in December
KRABI: The Krabi Provincial Court will begin hearing testimony in the murder trial of motorcycle taxi driver Uthane Douangnoi in December. Uthane is accused of murdering Briton Richard Mark Collins on March 8 last year (see earlier story here). A clerk at the Krabi Provincial Court told the Gazette today that the hearing would likely carry on well into 2007.…
Read More » - Phuket News
PYC avoids closure
AO YON: An extraordinary meeting of Phuket Yacht Club (PYC) members on January 22 has staved off the threat of the club’s closure due to financial woes.PYC Commodore David Ratcliffe told the Gazette, “The PYC will continue to operate at its current premises for at least another three years.”He explained that the club had suffered a fall in revenue following…
Read More » - Phuket News
Big Phi Phi meeting makes small progress
KOH PHI PHI DON: Some 200 local people attended a meeting on Saturday with Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop and a passel of senior government officials. They were hoping for solutions to many tsunami-related problems, especially an end to the ban on building permanent structures, but came away shaking their heads in disappointment at the continuing lack of progress.Phankam Kitithorakul,…
Read More » - Phuket News
Mystery over “mass dog poisonings’ in Patong
PATONG: Residents here are insisting that “up to 100 local dogs” have been poisoned in the middle of the night by people driving around in a Patong Municipality garbage truck.But Patong Deputy Mayor Chairat Sukbal vehemently denies that the cull has anything to do with the municipality.Prasert Moonlad, a resident of Nanai Rd in Patong, told the Gazette, “My three…
Read More » - Phuket News
Cheating alleged in OrBorJor exams
PHUKET: Seven people are under investigation for allegedly using high technology to cheat in an examination to select officials to work for the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor). The OrBorJor announced last October that it was seeking to fill eight clerical posts. Some 2,000 people applied, and examinations took place on Saturday at Phuket Wittayalai School in two sessions –…
Read More » - Phuket News
Air traffic down sharply in 2005
PHUKET: Reflecting the sharp downturn in tourism following the tsunami, international passenger traffic through Phuket International Airport fell 54.4% in 2005.The latest statistics from Phuket International Airport show that the number of international passengers using the airport, both for arriving and departing flights, dropped from 2,024,879 in 2004 to 923,440 last year.Domestic passenger traffic through the airport fell 20.5%, from…
Read More » - Phuket News
Irishman dies in motorcycle crash
NAKALAY: Paul Dooley from County Cork in the Republic of Ireland died of head injuries at around 2 am on Wednesday, January 18, after a motorcycle crash on the Kalim-Kamala road, near the Thavorn Beach Village & Spa. He was 27.Hélène Fallon-Wood, the Irish Honorary Consul in Phuket, told the Gazette that Mr Dooley had been living in Kamala for…
Read More »
