Year: 2011
- Phuket News
30-kilo python plucked from Phuket village
PHUKET: Villagers in Thalang who had been trying to catch a pesky python for weeks finally hit pay dirt yesterday, when the serpent slithered into their sleepy Phuket village just before sundown. Residents of Baan Lipon in Srisoonthorn subdistrict Village 8 told the Phuket Gazette that the snake was often seen lurking around the lake near their village and the…
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British tourist dies in late-night road crash
PHUKET: British tourist John Stephen Smout, 49, died in a road accident near the Rawai beachfront early Monday morning when his motorbike ran into the path of a pick-up being driven by an island resident also on his way home. According to the police report, Mr Smout refused offers by people at a nearby bar to give him a lift…
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Phuket Property: Where’s the ‘Sweet Spot’?
PHUKET: AMCHAM Thailand’s Greater Phuket Chapter in cooperation with Property Report South East Asia invite you to a seminar at which a group of Thailand’s leading property experts will discuss the resort markets of Greater Phuket, Koh Samui, Pattaya and Hua Hin. Learn who’s hot and who’s not, and share some insights into what is the sweet spot in today’s…
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Phuket workers fight extradition for Aussie murder
PHUKET: Two former employees of a Phuket Town restaurant are fighting extradition to Australia, where they are wanted for the 2009 stabbing murder of an Australian man in Melbourne. The pair, 28-year-old Surad Seehaverachart and Thatiya Cherdphutham, 25, are wanted for the May 2009 stabbing murder of 29-year-old Luke Mitchell outside a nightclub. Surad was arrested by three officers stationed…
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Phuket prepped to host 4th Asian Beach Games
PHUKET: Organizers of the 4th Asian Beach Games (ABG), to be held in Phuket in November 2014, met in Phuket earlier this month to finalize various arrangements and express confidence that the island could successfully host the 16 or 17 core competitions that will make up the event. The ABG is being organized by the various committees of the Olympic…
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Phuket Live Wire: Debunking 3G in Phuket
PHUKET: Anyone working in IT in Thailand should try very hard not to use the term “3G”. The scientific-sounding “3G” rates as a marketer’s dream come true. It reeks of sizzle and bling. And, the way it’s being tossed about, it means absolutely nothing. You would presume that 3G is better than 2G and not as good as 4G, yes?…
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Phuket roundabout: Patong one-way to be reversed – again
PHUKET: One-way traffic in Patong will be reversed, with traffic flowing north along Rath-U-Thit 200 Pi Road and south along the beach road, officials announced today. However, Patong Mayor Pian Keesin said a date had yet to be set when the changes will be effected. “We still have to decide on how the traffic will flow along the streets connecting…
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Phuket Fun Fly is back
PHUKET: Phuket Fun Fly, the paragliding competition that captivated tourists and local residents alike in May last year, will return to the skies above Nai Harn Beach and Phromthep Cape from June 23 to 26. Among the activities, to be held from 8am to 6pm each day, will be spot landing and fun fly competitions as well as beach activities…
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Did freak storm save FC Phuket’s skin?
PHUKET: FC Phuket was enduring a 5-2 drubbing by Bangkok FC in the capital on Sunday when the match was abandoned seven minutes before full time due to a freak storm that made play impossible. There was some confusion over what the ruling meant for the fixture. Bangkok FC, currently languishing third-from-bottom in Thai Division 1, has asked that the…
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Case of the crabs: Phuket expert speaks out
PHUKET: The Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) has identified overfishing as a likely cause of the millions of crab larvae washing ashore on Phuket beaches on Friday. The tiny sea creatures that washed ashore at Kata and Karon Beaches were crabs, not krill as originally reported, explained PMBC Director Wannakiat Thubthimsang, who took live samples from the beach on Friday.…
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Phuket rain blamed for “Saturday night spins’
PHUKET: Heavy rains in Phuket’s Thalang District on Saturday night left a passenger van on its side and a pickup truck badly damaged in separate incidents. All five occupants walked away with only minor injuries. One of the crashes occurred on Route 4027 in Pa Khlok at about 11am. A silver passenger van driven by 31-year-old Suthee Jareornpakdee was transporting…
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Phuket Boat Burglars: Another yacht owner offers reward to catch the culprits
PHUKET: The owner of yet another yacht anchored in Chalong Bay has stepped forward with an offer of a reward. Horst Lakits, owner of the well-known Phuket yacht Big A, told the Phuket Gazette this afternoon that, “I have been living in and around Phuket since 1991, and this is the first time [my boat] has been broken into [here].…
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Phuket Conundrum: Can greed and thuggery win the battle for tourists?
PHUKET: Issues affecting tourist safety and welfare in Phuket and other popular destinations in Thailand have rightly dominated the news in this week’s issue of the Phuket Gazette. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of tourism to the Thai economy. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) recently announced that it plans for a record number of tourists, over 17…
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Millions of krill blanket Phuket beaches, spark tsunami fears
PHUKET: Millions of krill yesterday washed up on the shores of Kata and Karon Beaches on Phuket’s west coast, sparking fears among local residents of an impending tsunami. The krill were first noticed at about 4pm. Onlookers told the Phuket Gazette that some were still alive at that time, but later died. “They were orange and each had a pair…
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Workplace raids to uphold women and child worker rights in Phuket
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Office of Labor Protection and Welfare will lead a campaign, including raids of business places, to ensure the rights of child and women workers are being upheld, it was announced today. The office plans to inspect at least 500 workplaces comprising 16,741 laborers, including 260 known unregistered workers, Phuket Labor Protection and Welfare office chief Kittipong…
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Mother watches as her son drowns in Phuket lagoon
PHUKET: A mother watched helplessly today as her son drowned in a tin mine lagoon behind the family home north of Phuket Town. Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers and Phuket City police officers arrived at the scene, in Soi Haad Saen Suk 2 in Rassada, at about 10:30am. It took them about an hour to retrieve the body of Weeranan Sae-Ong,…
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Phuket yachts harried by spate of break-ins
PHUKET: A 20,000-baht reward is being offered but Phuket police are still at a loss as to who is committing the thefts from yachts anchored in Chalong Bay. An estimated 12 yachts have been broken into in the past month, with one yacht – the 20-million-baht S/Y Smoke – having suffered a reported US$6,000 in equipment losses. Roger Harris, the…
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Three girls saved from Phuket rip tide
PHUKET: Three teenage girls were spared the dangers of a strong rip tide at Nai Harn Beach yesterday afternoon. All three were on family trips to the beach, explained the mother of one of the girls. “We were waiting for our somtam on the shore while the three girls went swimming. “A few minutes later, I heard someone blowing a…
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Phuket police nab notorious “Junior’ gang
PHUKET: Police last night arrested six members of a teenage gang known for allegedly committing many robberies and often threatening to kill their victims if they did not co-operate. Known as the “Junior Gang”, the four teenage men and two teen women were charged with committing gang robbery and being in possession of unlicensed firearms. All six confessed to the…
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Work begins to make Phuket “death bend’ safer
PHUKET: Work is underway to make safer the deadly bend on the hill road to the Big Buddha. Suporn Vanitchakul, president of the Phra Phuttha Mingmongkol Foundation 45, explained that workmen on Monday began laying out markers and clearing the land. The private road will be broadened to 12 meters along a 100m stretch that includes the notorious bend, which…
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Ayutthaya “sex lottery’ exposed, cops get tough on getting lucky
AYUTTHAYA: An underground lottery in Ayutthaya province has given new meaning to the expression “getting lucky”. Top prize in the draw, which was becoming increasingly popular with male factory workers in the central Thai province before the authorities got wind of it, was a night in bed with a young woman. Early this month Ayutthaya Police made several arrests connected…
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Phuket officials tackle taxi, tuk-tuk blockades
PHUKET: A long-term solution to the repeated blockading of Phuket Deep Sea Port by local taxi drivers is to be in place by mid-May, a meeting of local leaders announced today. This morning marked the first gathering of representatives from 17 government agencies and private sector groups who are to establish a formal committee to deal with tuk-tuk and taxi…
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Phuket tourist forced to pay 180,000 baht in jet-ski repairs
PHUKET: A group of foreign tourists enjoying the Songkran festival in Phuket found out the hard way that the much maligned jet-ski insurance scheme doesn’t cover all repair costs if a jet-ski is badly damaged. After negotiations with police and the jet-ski owner, British national Nicola Ross Morton agreed to pay an astounding 180,000 baht for damages to a jet-ski…
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Phuket tourism industry rakes in B800mn over Songkran
PHUKET: The Phuket tourism industry enjoyed a solid performance during the recent Songkran holidays, with hotel occupancy rates averaging about 70% across the island, officials say. Bangonrat Shinaprayoon, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) regional office in Phuket Town, said an estimated 800 million baht (US$ 26 million) in generated revenue over the week met TAT projections. Some…
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Don’t forgot the Phuket Punchline – it’s tomorrow!
PHUKET: It’s that time of the month again – no, not that – when Phuket expats head for Patong for an unadulterated dose of one-liners from a trio of comedians. Yes, the Phuket Punchline Comedy is here – well – Wednesday night at the Holiday Inn Patong to be more specific. For more specific specifics, read on. Three very different…
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Thailand vows to get tough on frauds against foreign tourists
PHUKET: Thailand’s deputy prime minister in charge of national security has vowed to prevent foreign tourists from being cheated during their visits to the country, including, specifically, Phuket. Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said after attending meetings with the Tourist Fraud Prevention Committee that the problem needs to be eliminated. He said that there are many forms of cheating, starting…
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Phuket navy base assists Krabi flood victims
PHUKET: Officers from the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command in Phuket distributed relief packages to people suffering from floods and landslides in parts of Krabi earlier this month. Group Capitan Parinyatham Pulpitaktham, head of the Disaster Mitigation Center’s civilian affairs and public relations department, led the effort to badly hit locales from April 12 to 17. Areas receiving assistance…
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FC Phuket trounce Chiang Mai, 4-0
PHUKET: FC Phuket rebounded from two tough road losses to demolish Chiang Mai FC by a score of 4-0 at Surakul Stadium yesterday. Crowd favorite Sarach Yooyen, just returning to play after suspension, got the scoring underway at seven minutes, finishing a good delivery from Rapeepan Poonsawat. Just before the end of the first half, Nirun Phunthong set up Nene…
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7 dead, 52 injured in Songkran road accidents in Phuket
PHUKET: Seven people died and 52 were seriously injured in a total of 43 reported road accidents in Phuket during the ‘Seven Days Of Danger’ road safety campaign. Six of the dead, a group of Burmese and their Thai driver, perished on Sunday when the overloaded pickup they were in lost control on a curve on the steep access road…
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Brake failure, overloading cause Phuket hill crash: DDPM
PHUKET: An official report issued by the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation office in Phuket (DDPM-Phuket) stated that the cause of yesterday’s crash that killed six people in the Chalong hills was brake failure and overloading. A total of 14 people were injured, seven severely. The names of the dead were listed as the driver, 41-year-old Thongdaeng Piwjun, and…
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Phuket Big Buddha crash update: 5 dead, 15 injured
PHUKET: Rescue workers at Phuket Ruamjai Kupai Foundation have confirmed that at least five people died in the head-on collision on Phuket’s Big Buddha hill this morning. Among the dead was a baby girl estimated at only two to three years old. The other deceased were two men and two women. Fifteen others have been taken to Vachira Phuket Hospital,…
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Head-on smash on Phuket’s Big Buddha hill leaves at least three dead
PHUKET: Eyewitnesses to a head-on smash between a pickup carrying about 20 people and a safari bus carrying tourists up Big Buddha hill say the accident has left at least three people dead, including one baby. Australian tourist Alessia Nuccitelli, 19, told the Phuket Gazette that she saw a pickup carrying about 20 Burmese people speeding downhill from the Big…
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FC Phuket play Chiang Mai tomorrow
PHUKET: Former league leaders FC Phuket will take on Chiang Mai at Surakul Stadium tomorrow night, hoping to find the winning touch again after two tough road losses that have seen them slide from first to sixth in the 18-team Thai League Division 1. They are coming off consecutive losses at Bangkok United and PTT Rayong. FC Phuket went into…
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Songkran 2011: Phuket records first road death
PHUKET: Phuket’s dream of keeping the road accident death toll to zero throughout the Songkran holiday’s ‘Seven Days of Danger’ safety campaign came to an abrupt end in Thalang this morning when a van hit a motorbike with a sidecar, killing one man and injuring another. The accident occurred at about 5:30am on the Muangmai-Airport Road, near Thalang Technical College.…
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Another Phuket Suicide: Man found hanged from tree in Chalong
PHUKET: Family are accepting as suicide the death of a man found hanged in a dense patch of jungle off Soi Nakok in Chalong, south of Phuket Town, this morning. Duty officer Chianchai Duangsuwan of Chalong Police arrived at the scene at 10:30am to find the body of 47-year-old Samer Wongmuang hanging from a tree. Tied around his neck was…
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Welfare ‘gift’ from Bangkok to include Phuket taxi drivers
PHUKET: Phuket taxi drivers, not universally popular with the island’s residents and legions of foreign tourists, will soon be among the beneficiaries of billions of baht in central government welfare funds. It was announced earlier this month that the government is expanding its ‘Pracha Wiwat’ welfare program from Bangkok to ten provinces, including Phuket. The program focuses on providing support…
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Phuket rides high as Songkran road deaths remain at zero
PHUKET: With just over two days to go in the Songkran ‘Seven Days of Danger’ road-safety campaign, Phuket still has yet to record a single death.“It’s better than last year. There have been fewer accidents,” said Lt Col Narong Kittipongwiwat, chief of the Phuket City Traffic Police. Most accidents involved motorcycles, he said. “The roads have been wet and slippery…
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