South Thailand News
Stay updated with the latest Southern Thailand news at The Thaiger, your ultimate source for regional information. Keep informed on local events, business developments, and lifestyle stories in popular locations beyond Phuket, Koh Samui, and Krabi. We’ve got reports of the latest goings on in Trang, Songkhla, Yala, and more.
Whether you’re a resident or a visitor, The Thaiger’s Southern Thailand news page is your essential guide to exploring this stunning tropical region. Dive into the vibrant community and rich culture with our expertly curated content, designed to keep you connected and well-informed.
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Why is Bangkok's air quality so bad?
Imagine waking up early in Bangkok and you see all the beautiful morning fog from your balcony, but as you sip your coffee you realise it's just Bangkok's air pollution that's making the sun rise aesthetic. Ranked as the 36th...
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Italian couple killed as truck rolls on top of them in Chumphon – VIDEO
PHOTO: Screenshot from Thai Rath’s video Two Italian tourists have been killed after an oil truck’s brakes allegedly failed coming down a hill. The truck overturned and rolled onto the pair in Chumphon. Workpoint News reports that the incident happened at an intersection in Paknam, Chumphon yesterday afternoon. Emergency responders arrived to find the overturned oil truck lying on the…
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Anti-vaxers blamed for astonishing rise of Measles in 2018 – UNICEF
“Measles is more contagious than tuberculosis or Ebola, yet it is eminently preventable with a vaccine that costs pennies.” Thailand figures in the Top 10 countries in the world where measles cases rose alarmingly in 2018. Most of the rises of Measles cases in Thailand have occurred in the three southern-most provinces where a large Muslim majority live. In some…
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400 marauding macaques invade plantations in Surat Thani
PHOTO: Catch us if you can Surat Thani officials are coming up with a plan to sort out the 400+ long-tailed macaques who have been invading fruit orchards and oil palm plantations for months. Provincial governor Wichawut Jinto has made the order after receiving countless complaints from residents of the southern province’s Phunphin district saying that the monkeys have caused…
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Southern ranger killed, two injured in Yala bomb ambush
PHOTOS: The Nation Southern insurgents have detonated a home-made bomb in a roadside ambush of a patrol unit of rangers in Yala’s Bannang Sata district. The fatal incident happened this morning, killing one ranger and injuring another. Yala provincial police were informed of the blast at 9.25am. It occurred on the main road in Tambon Bacho’s Ban Ubae village. 33…
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History of Thailand’s Southern Insurgency
Whenever there’s news about violence in southern Thailand, Thaiger readers may wonder who’s fighting who, and why. So we present a brief history of the insurgency which has gripped Thailand’s southernmost provinces for decades. The area has been coined the ‘deep south’ or the ‘restive south’ and has become, statistically, a more bloody conflict than the situation on the Gaza…
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Six marine officials killed as van slams into tree, Chumpon
PHOTO: A van is almost totally destroyed after slamming into a tree on Highway 41 in Sawi district of Chumphon yesterday (Sunday) – Facebook/Chumphon Rescue Volunteers at Khao Ka Rong Investigators are blaming a burst tyre on a passenger van that crashed, killing six Marine Department officials in Chumpon, heading back from Phuket towards Bangkok. The officials were killed and five others…
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Southern insurgency: Ranger shot dead in Songkhla house
FILE PHOTO: The latest shooting in a spate of recent violence in the southern provinces – The Nation A ranger based in Yala has been shot dead at his home in Songkhla’s Muang district. Pol Capt Adirek Burintrapibal, the deputy inspector of Muang Songkhla police station, was alerted at 8.30pm last night of the shooting at a house in Moo 10…
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50+ motorbike taxi drivers blockade southern border
50 Thai motorcycle taxi drivers have set up a blockade at the Thai-Malaysian border checkpoint to protest what they allege are unworkable, stricter immigration checks now imposed by Malaysian immigration officials. The taxi drivers say they have been bringing Thai tourists across the border in Songkhla’s Sadao district to the duty-free shops in Malaysia’s Padang Besar for years. Yesterday morning’s…
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One dead, one injured in Narathiwat garage shooting
A gunman has opened fire at a Malaysian garage owner in Narathiwat’s Sungai Golok district last night, killing him and severely injuring a Malaysian employee. 54 year old Sulaimi bin Mat Ali died at the Sungai Golok Hospital after the 8:30pm shooting at his car workshop on Soi Pracha Ruamjai off Pracha Uthit 2 Road in Ban Sarayor village in…
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Sentences handed down for militants linked to truck theft and murder in Songkhla
One militant has been sentenced to death and another three handed down life sentences. The sentences were handed down by the presiding judge at the Na Thawee provincial court yesterday in the southern province of Songkhla after being found guilty of murder, robbery and illegal detention. A fifth defendant was sentenced to two years and eight months prison for being an accessory…
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Boom boom on the border – Thailand’s unlikely red-light district
PHOTO: The attractions of Thailand’s southern border town usually become apparent after sunset On one side of the Thai/Malaysian border is Sungai Golok, on the Malaysian side it’s the town of Rantau Panjang. The two towns are separated by the Golok River as well as decades of furious fighting between Muslim separatists who want to reclaim some of the southern…
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Injured king cobra caught in Trang
PHOTOS: กา คาบข่าว A three metre king cobra has been caught in Trang yesterday, the sixth king cobra caught in Trang in two months. It’s much smaller than the 5 metre monsters caught in Krabi in recent weeks. Rescue workers in Sikao, Trang were notified of the king cobra that was found near the entrance of Pak Meang Beach in…
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Whale shark carcass found on Satun Beach
PHOTO: DMCR The body of a whale shark was discovered on a beach in Satun yesterday. The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) is reporting that officials at the Mu Koh Paetra National Park in Satun were notified about the huge whale shark carcass that had been washed on a beach between Phang Ga Ya Bay and Ko Bulon…
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800K methamphetamine pills seized in Chumphon
PHOTOS: Region 8 Police 800,000 methamphetamine pills have been seized in Chumphon this week. A staged media scrum was held at Region 8 Police headquarters in Mai Khao yesterday, led by the Region 8 Police Commander Lt Gen Pongwut Pongsri. The arrests came after police and soldiers set up a checkpoint on Bangsaphan – Chumphon Road in Patiw, Chumphon. Following…
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Sea Turtle found dead on Chumpon beach, choked on plastics
by Prasit Leehukunakorn A large green turtle has been found dead on Chumphon’s Bang Nam Jeud Beach, believed to have died from plastic waste it ingested. “I found a piece of plastic in its throat, so I think it’s the latest victim of sea-borne plastic waste,” said Amnuaykiat Timnakha, deputy chief of the Tambon Bang Nam Jeud Organisation. He was…
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Bangkok-Yala Express Train crashes into pickup killing mother and child
PHOTO: Coconuts A mother and son have died after a Bangkok-Yala express train hit their pick up this morning on a road between Ban Tham Khao Chawala and Ban Tham Namthip Villages in Surat Thani, southern Thailand. The victims were identified as 39 year old Weerawal Semrod and her 10 year old son Manoonsak. The incident occurred at a level…
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Mother and son killed after train collided with their pickup truck in Surat Thani
PHOTOS: fm91bkk A mother and a son have been killed after a train collided with a pickup truck in Surat Thani this morning. FM 91 Bangkok is reporting that the Tha Chana Police in Surat Thani were notified of the incident at a railway in Tha Chana. Police and rescue workers arrived at the scene where there were no barriers for…
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Attacks in Thailand’s deep south – International coverage
Thailand’s southern insurgency, a long, protracted border and religious ‘war’, continues to rage with recent attacks getting more attention. This is partly due to the new targets with local schools getting caught in cross-fire and last Friday night’s killing of a temple abbot and another monk during prayers. The international media is now starting to provide greater coverage of one…
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Thai PM condemns southern violence. Urges media to be ‘careful’ covering the story.
PHOTOS: The Nation Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has responded to escalating violence in the strife-torn South today by saying that the people behind the deadly attack at a temple in Narathiwat province on Friday night were seeking to ramp up attention given to the violence in the South to the international level and lure officials into conducting “forceful suppression”. “Those…
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UPDATE: 4000 villagers attend funeral rites for slain monks in Narathiwat
Over 4,000 villagers, including more than 300 monks from several temples in southern provinces and border provinces of Malaysia, have attended a bathing ritual for the two monks slain by gunmen who stormed Wat Rattananuparb in Narathiwat on Friday night. Read more about the raid HERE. The bathing rites for Phra Khru Prachote Rattananurak, the abbot of Wat Rattananuparb, and…
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Human Rights Watch condemn Narathiwat temple murders as a war crime
PHOTOS: The Nation The cold-blooded attack on a Narathiwat temple, where two monks were gunned down last night, was “inhumane and barbaric”. Spokesman for the Defence Ministry, Lt General Kongcheep Tantrawanich, says that those behind the attack at Wat Rattananuparb in Sungai Padi district “showed no mercy”. “They prefer to use violence to make people fear for their own benefits…
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Two monks killed in temple shooting at Narathiwat
PHOTO: The Nation “We believe that at least six assailants were involved in the shooting and are at large,” – police spokesman in the Su-ngai Padi district. Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has condemned the latest violence in southern province Narathiwat where two monks were gunned down and others injured last night (Friday). Narathiwat is Thailand’s southern-most province. Government spokesman Puttipong Bunnakun…
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Students huddle under desks in Narathiwat as insurgents fight with soldiers
by Narong Nuansakul, Nakarin Chinworakamon Students huddled under desks and screamed in fear as they could hear guns being fired near their school in Narathiwat province, bordering the Malaysian border, yesterday. The gunfight erupted after rangers and police confronted a group of suspected insurgents in a rubber plantation nearby. One suspect was killed in the clash, and authorities believe other…
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Chumphon woman, working in Phuket, wins first prize in lottery
A woman from Chumphon, who helps out her sister in Phuket, returned to her hometown last week where she bought a lottery ticket. The ticket won her the first prize in the lottery. 38 year old Thai woman Chonrada Laimer from Chumphon went to Chalong Police Station yesterday with the first prize lottery ticket number 197079. The weekly lottery numbers…
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Burmese human-trafficking suspect escapes from Songkhla police cell
PHOTOS: The Nation A Burmese suspect has broken free from a detention room at a police station in Songkhla today where he was detained pending a human trafficking investigation. Police say 27 year old Zaw Win somehow unlocked the padlock on the detention cell at the Bang Klam police station in Bang Klam district at about 7am this morning. A…
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Six metre king cobra caught by rescue workers in Trang – VIDEO
VIDEO/PHOTOS: หน่วยกู้ภัยบรรเทาวังวิเศษ A 20 kilogram, 6 metres king cobra has been caught in Trang by rescue workers. 77 Kaoded news reports that Sikao Police in Trang were notified of the incident at a house at 4.45pm yesterday. Police decided it wasn’t quite in their work contract and contacted rescue workers who headed to the house. Sawai Kaewjuea, a rescue worker, led his…
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Driver charged in Chumphon tour bus accident
PHOTOS: หน่วยกู้ภัยมูลนิธิชุมพร //บางหมาก 02 / MulnithiChumphrKarKuslSngKheaaH A tour bus driver has been charged for reckless driving after yesterday morning’s tour bus accident in Chumphon. 23 Filipino tourists escaped serious injury in the bus crash. The bus was travelling from Bangkok to Phuket. Read more about yesterday’s crash HERE. Thairath is reporting that the tour bus driver, 36 year old Taweesak Chitchuea from…
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Couple murdered in Yala. Police believe political motives.
FILE PHOTO Police are hunting a group of gunmen in Yala after a home invasion and shooting when they shot dead an election candidate and his wife. Investigators suspect political motives at this stage. The couple’s two children narrowly escaped and are the only witnesses to the incident. Warin Saengchan a local politician preparing his campaign to run for office…
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170K meth pills and 2 kg crystal meth seized in Hat Yai
PHOTOS: Hat Yai Police A man has been arrested with 170,000 methamphetamine pills and two kilograms of crystal methamphetamine in Hat Yai, Songkhla. A team from Hat Yai Police last week arrested 31 year old Watcharaphon ‘Pom’ Srinuanput at a rented room in Hat Yai. He was found with 170,000 methamphetamine pills and two kilograms of crystal methamphetamine inside his…
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Omura whale found dead on Chumphon beach
PHOTO: DMCR A young Omura whale has been discovered dead along the Chumpon coastline. Experts believe it died as a result of an infection. The Department of Marine and Coastal Resource (DMCR) was notified about the whale that was found dead near shores Sawee, Chumphon last week. The DMCR is reporting that the female Omura whale was nearly 5 metres…
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