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Phuket man overrun with debt found hanged
PHUKET: Police are treating the death of a 60-year-old man found hanged at a housing estate in northern Phuket this morning as a suicide. Aphisit Nomrit, 13, found the body of his father, Mr Sommai, inside a wastewater-treatment room at the Karn Keha public housing estate in Thalang at about 9:30am. Mr Sommai lived and worked as a security guard…
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Phuket officials prepare to call off search for missing US diver
PHUKET: Officials leading the search for missing US diver Joshua Michael Devine are preparing to call off their efforts if they fail to find any clues by end of day, Sunday. Mr Devine went missing from the Chontara 1, a Similans-bound liveaboard, on April 11. He was travelling with his wife, Ms Thadsana, and 22 other divers (story here). Officers…
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Neighborhood electric vehicle market thrives on luxury resort island
PHUKET: The numerous luxury resorts in Phuket has helped grow Southern Thailand’s golf cart and other neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV) market, which is now in a dead heat with the Central Region, Ekasit Kunanantakul, managing director of Global Electric Motorcars Asia Company, said in an exclusive interview with the Phuket Gazette. Global Electric Motorcars, now 12 years old, was among…
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Business Buzz: Blogging me bonkers with business
PHUKET: A blog in its simplest form is a website that gets updated regularly. The only real difference to a ‘normal’ website is the frequency with which it is updated or changed. My preferred working blog is a combination of the traditional website with a blog or news page included, so that it covers the best of both worlds and…
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No charges over boat collision off Phuket
PHUKET: Police will not press any charges over the incident in which a dive boat and a sailboat collided heavily north of Koh Mai Thon, east of Phuket, last Saturday. On returning to Phuket last Saturday afternoon, the captain and crew on board the sailboat Starship alleged that the dive boat North Star struck their vessel and fled after throwing…
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Ronins shot down by Air Force Central
PHUKET: The island’s Phuket FC is looking to rebuild their confidence after their 2-0 loss away to Air Force Central (AFC) FC on April 8. AFC supporters had to wait until only the 19th minute to roar with delight as the Bangkok squad’s Nigerian midfielder Julius Obioh slotted the ball into the net after receiving a superb cross from fellow…
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Phuket readies for Gran Fondo road race
PHUKET: About 150 riders will take to the streets of Phuket this Sunday for the Thanyapura Gran Fondo, a 120km bicycle road race to be headed by Tour de France green jersey winner Baden Cooke. “Among the cyclists travelling to Phuket to join the major event are the women’s bike team W2 from Bangkok and lots of Phuket cyclists as…
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Phuket lifeguards back on beaches “within a week’
PHUKET: Lifeguards are expected to be back on duty at Phuket’s beaches within the coming week, the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO) has announced. The news follows Phuket Governor Nisit Jansomwong yesterday signing his approval for the PPAO to expedite the process of hiring lifeguards by directly negotiating with the Phuket Lifeguard Club (PLC). “I signed my approval as soon…
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Opinion: By land, air or sea – embarrassment for all
PHUKET: The ferry fire that claimed the life of 12-year-old Israeli tourist Shani Manil last week is just the latest in a series of tourist industry maritime tragedies that have occurred in the Andaman region in recent years, demonstrating once again that transport safety for tourists and residents alike remains a chronic problem here. There have been numerous sinkings, capsizings,…
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Phuket’s new tourism rule book: “Out with the beach, in with the shopping’
PHUKET: The island’s reputation for attracting luxury tourists with its azure seas, coral sand coves and boutique resorts is being transformed by recent demographic shifts which are seeing wealthy visitors to Phuket spending more time away from the beach in pursuit of retail therapy. Shopping is becoming the main activity for luxury travellers coming to Phuket from within the region.…
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Ex-husband, friends wanted by police after gun threat
PHUKET: Police are searching for a man and at least two others after he threatened his ex-wife and their family with a gun in front of their home in Phuket Town on Wednesday night. Phuket City Police rushed to the scene at about 7:45pm after receiving reports of shots fired in Srisuthat Soi 4, Maj Rachan Panwai of Phuket City…
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Nationwide Songkran holiday road toll rises
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Road toll exceeds last year’s figures The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Songkran holiday period saw 364 deaths and 3,559 injuries from 3,373 accidents – higher than last year’s figures, the Road Safety Center said yesterday. This year saw 42 more deaths, 334 more injuries…
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Arms deals with Russia in pipeline as West shuns junta
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Arms deals with Russia in pipeline as West shuns junta The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Despite Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha’s insistence that the government’s renewed relationship with Russia is not meant to counterbalance deteriorating relations with the United States, a top Russian minister said…
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Govt tells BOT to ‘manage’ baht
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Govt tells BOT to ‘manage’ baht The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The committee of economic ministers, chaired by Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, yesterday signalled the Thai central bank to pursue a monetary-easing policy in an attempt to shore up the export sector amid the…
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Phuket top cop labels bomb threat via Line a “rumor’
PHUKET: The island’s top cop has brushed aside a Phuket car bomb threat circulating on social media sites as only an unsubstantiated rumor. Nonetheless, the governor has asked that police boost security measures throughout the island. The increased security measures follows a message being passed through the Line application and social media sites that urges readers to be weary of…
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D-Day for Surin Beach businesses swiftly approaches
PHUKET: The deadline for 39 Surin Beach businesses, including several iconic beach clubs, to appeal eviction notices handed down by the Cherng Talay Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) is swiftly approaching, confirmed Cherng Talay OrBorTor President Ma-ann Samran. “The deadline to appeal to the Administrative Court is Saturday. We will be going to Surin Beach on Monday to find out whether…
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Officials ramp up search for missing American diver
PHUKET: Officials ramped up their search yesterday for an American diver who went missing from a Similans-bound liveaboard on April 11. Joshua Michael Devine, 36, a civilian IT operative working at a United States military base in Kuwait, was on the CRP Transport diving trip with his Thai wife, Thadsana, and 22 other divers (story here). The Phuket Marine Police…
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Phuket bomb fears disarmed by wet clothes
PHUKET: Fears that an abandoned bag might contain a bomb sent an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit and Wichit Police racing to Sriphuwanart Public Park on Pattana Thongthin Road in Wichit on Tuesday evening. “Wichit Police informed us that they had received a call from locals who had seen a bag that looked like a bomb, so we immediately went…
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Opinion: Tides turn against IUU vessels in Southeast Asia
Siddharth Chakravarty, captain of The Steve Irwin, has been working for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and battling on the frontlines of marine conservation since 2011. Since then, he and his crew have managed to combat Japanese whalers, patrol the Bluefin Tuna fishing season, protect the Whale Sanctuary in the Southern Ocean, save sharks in the South Pacific and more.…
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Japanese tourist drowns on Krabi snorkelling tour
PHUKET: A tourist who owns a cosmetic company in her native Japan drowned while snorkelling at Koh Gai, off the Krabi coast, yesterday. “Akemi Kato, 52, was pulled from the water at about noon,” said Capt Prapan Nhuchaikaew of the Krabi City Police. “Ms Kato was one of 10 tourists on a speedboat tour run by Ao Nang Orchid Co…
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Alleged Phuket tour fraudster a no show – arrest warrant issued
PHUKET: An arrest warrant has been issued for a man who is wanted for allegedly defrauding a Phuket tour company of about 1.5 million baht. The warrant for Peerapat ‘Deer’ Singhon, 25, was issued after the alleged fraudster failed to present himself to police on April 7. “As Mr Peerapat failed to present himself in accordance with the police summons,…
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No deaths on day five of Phuket’s Seven Days of Danger
PHUKET: The island escaped another day in the Seven Days of Danger road-safety campaign without a single death yesterday. By the end of day five, at midnight last night, 49 people had been injured in a total of 48 road accidents, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket office (DDPM-Phuket), which collates all road accident statistics in…
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Three killed in Krabi palm plantation stabbing
PHUKET: Krabi police are hunting two men wanted for the stabbing murders of three men in a palm plantation in Nuea Khlong early this morning. “We were notified of the attack just after midnight,” said Nuea Khlong Police Superintendent Taksin Phochakorn. “Four men found at the scene had serious stab wounds – three died en route to hospital.” Police are…
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Phuket search continues for missing American diver
PHUKET: The Phuket Marine Police are continuing their search today for an American scuba diver who went missing from a Similans-bound liveaboard early Saturday morning. Joshua Michael Devine, 36, a civilian IT operative working at a United States military base in Kuwait, was on the CRP Transport diving trip with his Thai wife and 22 other divers. “We arrived in…
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Business Buzz: Twitter – Instant marketing, tweets of success
PHUKET: Twitter was created in 2006 by Jack Dorsey and Noah Glass as a method of using SMS to give status updates to all of your friends in your address book, but without the cost or time used sending individual messages. This has morphed into what is now a multi-billion dollar company with 232 million monthly users. What started out…
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Myanmar worker hospitalized following electrical leakage
PHUKET: A Myanmar worker was injured by an electrical shock from a metal wall divider inside a Phuket worker camp in Cherng Talay yesterday. The 28-year-old man, named only as ‘Mr Ao’, was taken to Thalang Hospital by Kusoldharm rescue workers following the accident. “He was at his place when he touched a metal sheet that we used to separate…
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Zero road deaths as Phuket enters day five of ‘Seven Days of Danger’
PHUKET: The island has made it more than halfway through the nationwide ‘Seven Days of Danger’ road-safety campaign for Songkran without a single death. By the end of day four, at midnight last night, there were 34 people injured in a total of 33 road accidents, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket office (DDPM-Phuket), which collates…
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Phuket bus terminal eviction order for taxis put on ice
PHUKET: An eviction order to move taxi drivers from Phuket’s main bus terminal in Rassada has been put on ice until after the Songkran holiday, a vice governor has confirmed to the Phuket Gazette. The news follows a meeting chaired by Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosutthriak on April 8 in response to a request lodged by 30 taxi drivers for intervention…
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Fishing boat explosion leaves seven crew seriously injured
PHUKET: Seven Myanmar fishermen were seriously injured after a battery allegedly exploded, sparking a fire inside their fishing boat off the coast of Phang Nga early this morning. One of the Myanmar nationals, whose name was withheld by hospital staff, is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Vachira Phuket Hospital after he sustained severe burns to his entire body,…
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Shocked Danish tourist allegedly pushed from dive boat after hit-and-run accident
PHUKET: Marine Police are waiting at Chalong Pier for the arrival of a dive boat that allegedly hit a sailboat and fled after throwing one of the Danish crew members seeking the safety of the dive boat into the water. “Everyone was screaming. I realized that we hit the boat, and my friend fell into the water,” 21-year-old Jens Ole…
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