Year: 2008
- Phuket News
Phuket Airport begs PAD to cease protest
MAI KHAO: Phuket International Airport Director Wicha Nernlop is begging the anti-government People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to end its siege of Bangkok’s two commercial airports, saying the revenue lost already dwarfs the amount lost through corruption during the Thaksin years.Speaking to the Gazette this afternoon, Mr Wicha said that the number of travelers stranded in Phuket has now reached…
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Phuket PAD: “No plans’ to close airport
THALANG: The Phuket branch of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) has “no plans” to close down Phuket International Airport again, according to a spokesman. The number of unscheduled flights in and out of Phuket has been increasing in recent days, with foreign governments arranging special flights for people stranded in Thailand by the closure of Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang…
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Phuket to host Suzuki Cup
PHUKET CITY: Phuket has been designated as the new Thai venue for Group B play in the AFF Suzuki Cup. Formerly known as the Tiger Cup, the tournament is the biggest in Southeast Asia and the only regional football competition to feature senior squads of all Asean nations. A spokesperson for the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) confirmed that Phuket…
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Car scam gang arrested
THALANG: Tah Chat Chai Police on November 25 arrested a six-member gang on charges including vehicle theft, receiving stolen goods and passport fraud. The men, three Thai nationals and three foreigners, are alleged to have been involved in a scam in which fake passports were used to rent cars, which were then to be sold in Laos. At around 2…
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Double homicide claims 20-year-old girls
KOH KAEW: Phuket City Police are searching for a man who shot and killed two young women on a motorbike early on Friday. At about 2 am on November 28, Phuket City Police were notified that two women had been found murdered at the mouth of the access road to Laem Hin in Koh Kaew Village 7, Muang District. Police…
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Governor urges police to quash trade in sex, pirate goods
PHUKET CITY: Fearful that foreigners will view Phuket as a “sex tour” destination and center for trade in counterfeit goods, Phuket Governor Preecha Ruangjan has urged police to take a more serious approach in enforcing prostitution and intellectual property laws. At the monthly meeting of the Provincial Committee for Social Stability held at Phuket Provincial Hall on November 27, Gov…
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100,000 passengers miss flights in 3 days
BANGKOK: Nearly 100,000 passengers have missed flights since protesters shut down Bangkok’s two main airports on Tuesday and the total could hit 300,000 as the shutdown continues, Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat said yesterday. “The total number could hit 300,000. When Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports are cleared, it will take 24 to 48 hours to verify aviation standards.…
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Advice for British citizens
PHUKET: Amid increased tensions this morning at Bangkok’s two airports, both under seige and rendered inoperable by PAD protesters since Tuesday, the British Embassy has called for publication of the following information: “For any British Citizens requiring assistance or advice, please telephone the British Embassy in Bangkok, 02 – 3058333, or, in case of extreme emergency, the British Honorary Councilor…
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Stranded tourists to receive hotel bill aid
PHUKET CITY: Tourists who have been unable to fly to Bangkok due to the closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport are to receive discounted hotel bills, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Southern Region 4 Office Director Sathaphan Buddhani told the Gazette in an interview today. Funding will come from the TAT, the Thai Hotels Association (Southern Chapter) and the Phuket Tourist Association.…
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Coral Reef Squadron: 9 down, 1 to go
BANG TAO: Phuket Governor Preecha Ruangjan yesterday went to personally inspect progress on the sinking of the “Coral Reef Squadron”, an artificial reef project being sunk about two kilometers off the coast at Bang Tao Bay. Like many newcomers to Phuket, the new governor, who comes from landlocked Phichit province, is allocating some time here to learn how to dive.…
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King’s Cup racing delayed
PHUKET: The King’s Cup Organizing Committee has this afternoon announced a change in the racing schedule for this year’s regatta. Racing will commence Tuesday, December 2 and will continue through to Saturday, December 6. There will be no lay day. The delay in starting the regatta is to allow those held up by the Bangkok airport closures to reroute their…
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Travelers stranded by Bangkok airport closures exempted from overstay fines
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Immigration Police Superintendent Chanatpol Yongbunjerd has confirmed that any travelers stranded in Thailand by the closure of Bangkok’s two airports will be exempted from paying overstay fines. Immigration headquarters in Bangkok has instructed immigration officers nationwide to extend “special assistance” to stranded travelers, just as it did in the wake of the 2004 tsunami disaster, he said.…
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Tomorrow’s Gazette on time despite airport closure
PHUKET: At a time when few major newspapers are available on the newsstands of Phuket, the Gazette will be out on schedule tomorrow morning, November 29, with all deliveries completed by 2pm – despite the shutdown of Bangkok’s Suvarnaphumi airport and limited service out of Don Muang. To ensure that our commitment to readers continues uninterrupted, a tradition started with…
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Travellers stranded in transit
BANGKOK (The Nation): Many travelers who were only in transit when their trips were disrupted are mired in uncertainty and hoping that Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport will reopen soon. Sixty-year-old Austrian Fink Viktor, who was on his way from Bali to Phuket with his wife, said the PAD blockade was terrifying, especially since they were traveling on their own and not…
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Capital increasingly tense as coup rumours spread
BANGKOK (The Nation): The situation in the capital was extremely tense yesterday as coup rumours prompted reaction from anti-government protesters and their rivals. Both camps mobilised their supporters for street fighting, while government and business offices suggested their staff get out early. Newspaper offices were flooded with phone calls inquiring or giving “tips” about an imminent coup. A source claimed…
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Battle brewing over U-turn closure
RASSADA: Residents of Village 2 are threatening to protest if Rassada Municipality moves ahead with a plan to permanently close down the U-turn on Thepkrasattri Rd, just north of Supercheap. At a meeting of Village 2 residents and local officials yesterday morning, residents led by spokesman Anurak Hongwongpaisarn said the plan to close the U-turn announced by Rassada Municipality last…
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A Krathong for your bong
BANGKOK: In the run up to Loy Krathong festival every year, there are a host of predictable stories in the Thai press about teens who choose to lose their virginity during the romantic, full moon celebration. Other common reports involve rampant price gouging on candles and other materials needed to make krathongs as the special day draws near. This year,…
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No end in sight for Patong Hospital staffing crisis
PATONG: Service at Patong Hospital continues to suffer, with no doctors on its permanent staff and no reinforcements expected until the middle of next year. Hospital Director Dr Taveesak Netwongse explained that the 60-bed hospital continues to get by with a skeleton crew of doctors on loan from other state-run hospitals including Vachira Phuket Hospital, Thalang Hospital and some in…
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Thailand hammered by world travel warnings
PHUKET: Countries around the globe yesterday issued warnings to their citizens about traveling to Thailand – a country the Philippines said was lacking in “political maturity”. The comment from President Gloria Arroyo’s spokesman, Anthony Golez, was prompted by the seizure of Suvarnabhumi Airport by protesters. Asked to explain his comments, Golez said, “Our people have reached a high degree of…
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Bangkok Airways announces flight cancellations
PHUKET: Bangkok Airways announced this morning that following a series of flight cancellations yesterday due to disruption of services at Suvarnabhumi Airport, a further 76 domestic and international flights in and out of Bangkok have been canceled for the period from 0600 hrs to 1800 hrs today. However, the airline is still operating scheduled services between the following destinations: Samui…
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4,500 travelers hit by Suvarnabhumi Airport closure
MAI KHAO: Almost 4,500 travelers have had flights canceled from Phuket International Airport (PIA) today following the closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. Protests by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) forced authorities to close Suvarnabhumi to all air traffic at 4 am today. Bangkok’s Don Muang airport remains open, though it is understood there have been cancellations there too.…
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B39.7m approved for “Patong Tunnel’ study
PATONG: Patong Municipality’s recently approved 271-million-baht budget for fiscal year 2009 includes 40 million baht to conduct a detailed study into the possible construction of a tunnel to connect the town with Tambon Kathu. Thanin Attasup, President of the Patong Municipal Council, stated that the recently-held third ordinary meeting of the council for 2008 was attended by Patong Mayor Pian…
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Kathu man confesses to grisly murder of neighbor while drunk
KATHU: A Kathu man confessed to the shooting and stabbing to death of a neighbor on the morning of November 23. Under questioning at Tung Tong police station, Wichian Choosri, 38, stated that he killed 39-year-old Nitti Limboot while in a drunken rage earlier that morning. A neighbor of Mr Wichian reported the murder to the police, who arrived at…
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Toilet paper warehouse goes up in flames
CHALONG: It took firefighters about an hour-and-a-half to extinguish a blaze that broke out in a warehouse on Soi Sanjaotaead in Chalong at about 11:30 am today. Four firetrucks and a cherry-picker were dispatched from the Wichit and Chalong Fire Departments to the warehouse, located in a residential area off Soi Taiad, about 200 meters behind the Phuket Spa and…
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Bangkok Airport Closed – Thousands Stranded
BANGKOK (The Nation): Up to 10,000 passengers are being stranded after the Suvarnabhumi Airport has been ordered closed as a result of a blockade by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD). The Airports of Thailand (AOT) has decided to close the airport after the protesters blocked an entrance, entered passenger terminals and scuffled with airport officials. The closure, ordered around…
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Baan Rim Pa founder Tom McNamara passes away
PHUKET: Prominent local foreign resident Tom McNamara passed away last night at the age of 62. The Gazette this morning received from the Baan Rim Pa restaurant group confirmation reading as follows:“On behalf of Thomas McNamara’s wife, Khun Pensri and children Casey, Fleur and Pure, it is with great sadness I must inform you that Tom, a long term resident…
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192 kilos of illicit drug ingredients seized
PHUKET: Thai and Australian law enforcement officials yesterday afternoon joined Phuket Governor Preecha Ruangjan at Phuket City Police Station to announce the arrest of a drug suspect and the seizure of 192 kilograms of pseudoephedrine (PSE), the chemical compound used to produce methamphetamines. Officers from the Royal Thai Police Narcotics Suppression Bureau and Phuket Provincial Police arrested 38-year-old Thai National…
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800 Phuket PAD members to join protest in Bangkok
PHUKET CITY: At least eight buses will leave from Phuket late this afternoon to transport Peoples’ Alliance for Democracy (PAD) members and supporters to join a huge anti-government protest in Bangkok tomorrow. Phuket PAD spokesman Natjarong Ekpermsup told the Gazette this morning that the buses will leave from the Esso service station opposite Satree Phuket school at 5 pm. At…
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Police nab bike thieving teens
PHUKET CITY: Phuket City Police have arrested three youths for motorcycle theft. Phuket Provincial Police Commander Apirak Hongtong presented the three 16-year-old suspects, along with a wide variety of motorcycle specialty parts and three stolen motorcycles, to the Gazette outside Phuket City Police Station this morning. The arrests were made after police spotted a blue Yamaha Mio, which had been…
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Nai Yang Beach restaurant operators fight eviction
NAI YANG BEACH: The owners of 13 beach-side restaurants located inside Sirinath Marine National Park are refusing to relocate to new premises that were built for them at the park’s visitors center, saying that the new shops are too small and distant from the sea. The latest dispute in the area is only the latest chapter in a decades-old dispute…
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Phuket second highest HIV infection rate in Thailand
PHUKET CITY: Phuket now ranks second among Thailand’s 76 provinces in terms of HIV infection, with the large number of nightlife entertainment venues and the sex industry seen as the cause. Dr Wiwat Sitomnoch of the Phuket Public Health Office reported that the incidence of HIV infection among teenagers and young adults in Phuket is rising, as are the number…
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Emergency medical training course for scuba staff
PHUKET CITY: The Badalveda Diving Medicine Network, on behalf of the TDA Diving Association (Thailand) and Bangkok Phuket Hospital, has announced the presentation of an Emergency Medical Management Training Course to be offered to the general scuba diving community. The course will include Basic First Aid, Oxygen Provider, and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training that can improve the emergency medical service…
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Aussie stabbing: no worries, mate
PATONG: Officers at Patong Hospital have denied reports in a local Thai-language newspaper that an Australian serviceman on shore leave was in a coma after being stabbed repeatedly following an altercation in Patong on the night of November 5. In fact, the soldier was treated for only minor stab wounds, which were stitched in the hospital. He was released shortly…
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All systems go for Coral Reef Squadron
PHUKET DEEP SEA PORT: Muslim clerics and Buddhist monks held religious services on the morning of November 15 to bless 10 aircraft that will be be sunk off Bang Tao Bay to create the “Coral Reef Squadron,” the first artificial reef project of its kind in Thailand. The services started at 10:30 am with a ceremony led by Muslim Wittaya…
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Nuvo to play benefit concert for Coral Reef Squadron project
PATONG: Veteran pop band Nuvo will play a benefit concert at Jungceylon on Friday, November 28 to raise funds for the Coral Reef Squadron artificial reef project, which will have its grand opening ceremony the following morning. ‘For Sea Foundation’ Press Coordinator Siri “Poo” Vorabutra said the six-member band, with hits like Pen yang nee tung tae kerd luey (I’ve…
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The next Miss France is on Phuket
NAI YANG: Phuket’s natural beauty got even more attractive this week with the arrival of 36 Miss France contestants who are here to film a segment of the pageant to be broadcast in France next month. On November 14 the Miss France contestants and their entourage, totaling 85 people, arrived at Indigo Pearl resort, where they will based during their…
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Over 30 guns seized at Tah Chat Chai checkpoint
TAH CHAT CHAI: Beefed up security at the Tah Chat Chai road checkpoint in Mai Khao has resulted in the seizure of more than 30 firearms in under two months and police are planning to invest a further 26 million baht to curb gun smuggling onto the island, according to the Manager online news service. Last Friday at Phuket City…
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