News
Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond. The Thaiger delivers the latest national news that matters.
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Snake strikes foreigner in the Similans
SIMILAN ISLANDS: Australian Anthony Lynam was airlifted from the Similan Islands to Phya Thai hospital earlier this week after being bitten on the foot by a deadly Pope’s pit viper. Lynam, 34, was on a diving trip with Santana Diving Co of Patong when he decided to take a look around the local forest. Because of storms and high seas…
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Teenager dies after saving swimmer
BANGTAO: The Governor of Phuket Province, Chadej Insawang, is to make a posthumous award for courage to Patchya Dangkrajang, who died in heavy seas on Songkran Day after rescuing a foreigner who got into trouble swimming. The Governor is also expected to award 22,000 baht from public welfare funds to the family of the 16-year-old hero. Patchya, who was helping…
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Holiday saved by honest cab driver
PHUKET: An American traveller has had his holiday saved by an honest taxi driver, Tourist Police report. They say that American Brian Favorite left his wallet in a Tour Royale taxi on the way from the airport to his hotel in Patong. Taxi driver Worawit Seesakukam, 27, found the wallet, containing US$2,800 and more than 500 baht, in the back…
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Business registrations up 30% over last year
PHUKET TOWN: New businesses registered in the first quarter of this year show an increase of 30 percent over the same period in 1998, indicating a surge of confidence in the island’s economy. Khun Virachai Tantiwattanawanlop, Head Administrator of the Phuket Commercial Registration Department, told the Gazette that in the first three months of 1999, 163 new firms registered with…
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Phuket On Guard Against Malaysian Virus
PHUKET: Health officials in Phuket are scrambling to devise a new strategy to ensure the pig-related virus that has killed dozens in Malaysia does not spread to the island. The authorities, along with Malaysian health officials, originally thought the outbreak was Japanese Encephalitis (JE), which is endemic in much of the Far East. But research by the US-based Centers for…
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More Buoys For Raya Yai As Day Trippers Multiply
RAYA YAI: The rising numbers of tourists taking day trips to Raya Yai has prompted the authorities to place more buoys around the island. Tourism Authority of Thailand records show that between 200 and 300 tourists travel to the Raya Yai every day, 95 percent of them on day trips. A survey by the Chulabhorn Research Institute confirmed that the…
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Thai Airways To Hike Domestic Fares On April 1
PHUKET TOWN: The Gazette has learned that Thai Airways is to raise fares on all domestic routes by a whopping 13 percent with effect from April 1. This is despite the fact that the national inflation rate in 1998 was eight percent, and that it is projected to fall to around two percent this year. A source at the airline…
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Yacht Burns And Sinks. Four Missing, Feared Dead
AO CHALONG: Four people are missing and feared dead after a fire erupted aboard a yacht anchored in Phuket’s Chalong Bay in the early hours of March 25. Phuket Marine Police said the fire broke out just before 1 am aboard the 160-foot motor yacht, which they named as the Catarina. Vessels from the Phuket Marine Police, Harbour Region 5…
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Home Buyers Warned To Check Structure Carefully
PHUKET TOWN: A Public Works officer has warned would-be buyers of townhouses that they must be sure the structure of the building is safe before they buy. Khun Nakonthon Kittisittho, chief of the Phuket Provincial Public Works Office, issued the warning following the collapse of a row of townhouses in Bangkok earlier this month. “My advice to would-be home buyers…
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School Gears Up For Green Certificate
PHUKET TOWN: Stree Phuket School is one of 13 schools in Thailand selected by the Department of Education to apply for international certification that they meet ‘best practices’ for environmental management. To get ISO 14001 certification from the International Standards Organization, the school will have to show that it has an efficient system for managing everything from separation of waste,…
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Floating Medics Go Back To Sea
PHUKET TOWN: The floating medics of the south are back at work again after a two-month break for their vessel, the Andaman, to undergo a thorough overhaul following nearly five years at sea. Their first job on the refurbished vessel was to help tourists and athletes involved in the 3rd Thailand International Canoe Races at Krabi earlier this month. Dr…
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South Koreans Top 1998 Arrests League Table
PHUKET: South Koreans headed the list of foreigners arrested last year, according to figures provided the Gazette by Phuket Provincial Police Headquarters yesterday. Of the 38 foreigners arrested in 1998, 15 were Koreans, followed by Germans (six), British (four), Filipinos and Burmese (three each) and Frenchmen and Swedes (two apiece). Arrests for working illegally topped the league, with 22 offenders…
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190 Illegals Nabbed
PATONG BEACH: Immigration, Marine Police and Tourist Police officers rounded up 190 illegal aliens last week. Of the 190, 164 were from Burma and 26 from Cambodia. Pol Gen Sant Sarutanond, Deputy Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police, said most of the illegals were arrested in Patong. Tourists want to relax, he said, but the illegal beggars, particularly the children,…
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Traffic Accidents Kill 20, Injure 1,034
PHUKET TOWN: Twenty people were killed in traffic accidents between January 20 and February 20, and a further 1,034 were injured, according to figures from the three state hospitals, Wachira, Thalang and Patong. Motorcycle accidents were to blame for the vast majority of deaths and injuries. Of the 20 dead, 19 were killed on motorbikes, with only one dying in…
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Fish Loved El Niño
PHUKET: The weather phenomenon known as El Niño may have brought floods, drought and other forms of misery to many people around the world, but not to fishing vessels in the Indian Ocean – they benefited from it with bumper catches. It seems that with the appearance of El Niño last year, fish from all over the world decided to…
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Marital Bliss Imperiled In Paradise
PHUKET: If you want a marriage that’s going to last, don’t marry in Phuket, and definitely don’t marry someone from either the hotel or entertainment industry – it could all end in tears. That, at least appears to be the message from Phuket’s latest marriage and divorce statistics. It seems that couples getting hitched in Phuket are more likely to…
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Two Tourists Drown In Separate Incidents
NAIHARN/PATONG: A 50-year-old German man and a 75-year-old Swiss woman, both tourists, drowned in separate incidents last week. On February 27, the German tourist, Arno Krain, drowned at Naiharn Beach. His body was found on the sand by police in a patrol car. The following day, acting on an anonymous tip-off, police recovered the body of Mrs Rosa Marie Spanibrusin…
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Police Nab Suspected Serial Murderer
PHUKET TOWN: Police have announced the arrest of a member of a three-man gang believed responsible for a string of murders and vehicle thefts across the southern provinces of Thailand between July and December last year. In custody and charged with murder and theft is Prapai Baupeng, 26, from Krabi. Phuket police allege that he and two others would typically…
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Anti-rabies Campaign Ready For Phuket
PHUKET TOWN: As part of Thailand’s annual drive to eliminate rabies, the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office is offering free vaccinations for the island’s dogs. Announcing details of this year’s campaign, the Chief of the Office, Niphat Roungruang, said he expects to vaccinate about 8,500 of Phuket’s estimated 11,000 dogs by the end of this month. Dog owners may also ask…
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Boom Year For Local Pawn Shop
PHUKET TOWN: The economic crisis fueled an increase in the number of loans against valuables at the Phuket Municipal Pawn Shop last year, according to Manager Phuwadon Chin-nupathum The number of customers seeking loans increased by nearly 2,000 in 1998, compared with 1997, while the total amount of money lent rose from 170,292,530 baht in 1997 to 190,659,300 baht last…
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Witnesses Fail To Appear In Tong Murder Trial
PHUKET TOWN: A court session scheduled to have taken place this morning was postponed when all five prosecution witnesses slated to testify in the Danis Wayne Tong murder trial failed to appear. The witnesses, Meen Klasuk, Arthit Chiyaiya, Wittaya Taweewongsap, Prasarn Lohajareekul and Ramon Alphibare [name transliterated by the prosecution], will now be subpoenaed to appear May 4-5, according to…
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Boxing Match To Benefit Local Reporters
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Reporters’ Club is organizing a night of Thai boxing at Saphan Hin Stadium on Friday, February 26, to raise money for the club. Mr Yongyod Phruksarak, president of the club, said that Phuket Governor Chadej Insawang will deliver a short opening address as the event’s guest of honor. There will be nine matches, the first of…
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Mapping Out Coral For Tourism
SATUN: The Royal Thai Navy has lent its support to an environmental marine survey off Ko Tarutao, Ko Adang, Ko Rawi and Ko Lipe in Satun province as part of the Chulabhorn 39 Project. Rear Admiral Suraphon Chandaeng, Chief of Staff of the Royal Thai Navy Third Fleet, has told Rear Admiral Chavalit Isarangkul, the Director of the Chulabhorn 39…
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Laguna Resorts & Hotels Announces Record Results
BANGKOK: Laguna Resorts & Hotels, Thailand’s second largest public hotel company, which owns Laguna Phuket, announced a record year in 1998 against the background of the regional economic crisis. Revenues climbed to Baht 2.3 billion, up from last year’s 1.6 billion, an increase of 47%. This was largely due to increased revenues at the Laguna Phuket hotels, (Banyan Tree Phuket,…
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Willing To Serve But Not Service
PHUKET TOWN: Early in the evening on Valentine’s Day, two girls from Lamphun Province near Chiang Mai told police they had narrowly escaped being forced into prostitution. The pair said they were tricked into traveling from their northern homes for work in a Phuket Town red light district by a husband and wife team who told them they would be…
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A-Go-Go, Then A-Gone-Gone
PATONG: An English tourist celebrating Valentine’s Day with her husband and two friends had her purse stolen as they watched go-go dancers on Patong’s Soi Bangla. Mrs Evin Annerry, 56, lost 1,500 baht, her credit card and other valuables when she, her husband and friends paused for a few minutes to watch the dancers from the sidewalk along the glittering…
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Metropole Makes Room For Beauty
PHUKET TOWN: Sixty of Thailand’s most beautiful women will be visiting Phuket from March 20-24 in a warm-up for the Miss Thailand beauty pageant. The girls will be taking part in rehearsals for the pageant, which will be held in Bangkok on March 27. The contestants also visited Phuket last year. The trip is sponsored by the Phuket Chamber of…
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Valentine’s Day Puts People in Marriage Mode
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket’s marriage registries were working overtime yesterday when 143 couples decided to tie the knot on Valentine’s Day. Muang District office registered the marriages of 118 couples, compared with 88 couples on Valentine’s Day last year. Kathu united 15 couples, up from 10 last year, while Talang had 10 couples completing their nuptials, the same number as Valentine’s…
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Santi Ho Withdraws From Sunshine
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket’s latest entry into the local radio market has lost one of its founders to an internal dispute. Sunshine Radio (95 FM) took to the air late last year, and was immediately dogged with technical and personnel problems. Though enthusiastic about its mission and ambitious in its goals, the station was plagued by frequent shutdowns, halting segues and…
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Swedish Tourist Dies In Bike Accident
CHALONG: A Swedish tourist died from head injuries after he rode his motorbike into a gully near the Arcadia Hotel and Resort on Karon Beach. Mr Bo Christer Elisson, 32, was travelling with a companion on another motorbike when the accident occurred at 4 a.m. on February 10. He was not wearing a helmet. Mr Ellison’s companion, who did not…
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