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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Global scorching; Thai Banks also scorched; Tales of two TATs
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Scorching forecast for Thailand PHUKET: In the next 35 years, the temperature in Thailand will rise a whopping 3 to 4 degrees Celsius, which will result in the eastern provinces being inundated in 300 millimetres of rainfall…
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Diesel salvage mission off Phuket resumes today
PHUKET: The mission to raise the sunken Choke Taworn 6 and its cargo of diesel fuel was postponed yesterday due to rough sea conditions. The effort will resume at 10am today, weather permitting. Rear Admiral Nawin Thananet, Chief of Staff of the Royal Thai Navy’s Third Area Command, said yesterday that visual inspection of the diesel tanks by divers revealed…
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FC Phuket hoist championship trophy, down Phang Nga FC 2-1
PHUKET: Goals either side of halftime from Thawin Butrsombat and Nithirot Sukuma were enough to ease FC Phuket to a 2-1 home win over Phang Nga FC at Surakul Stadium last night. Thawin, signed during the mid-season break, put the Southern Sea Kirin 1-0 up after just seven minutes, when he kept his composure in the box to finish off…
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Water service finally restored in Kathu, Phuket
PHUKET: Residents in parts of Phuket’s Kathu District are angry with local authorities because their water supply, cut off on Monday, was only restored this afternoon. Residents of the Baan Neua and Moo Baan Pak Dee communities, off Wichit Songkraam Road, contacted the Gazette at 10am to complain about the shortage, which forced students to go off to school without…
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Phuket sails in China; Phuket air lift; Reliable police?
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Team Phuket to sail in China PHUKET: The Nation reports that ‘Team Phuket King’s Cup Regatta’ has entered the China Cup International Regatta, to take place in Daya Bay, Shenzhen, China from October 29 to November 1.…
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New Phuket Town market finally opens for business
PHUKET: The new market on Ranong Road finally opened for business on Sunday, despite the refusal by a handful of holdout vendors to sign the contracts and occupy stalls they are entitled to. On the ground floor are stalls selling fresh meat, seafood and dry foods. Below, in the basement level, are small restaurants and vendors selling fresh fruit and…
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Cook arrested for religious icon theft in Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket Police on Sunday arrested a thief who tried to return two stolen religious relics to their rightful owner, claiming they had brought him bad luck. News of the arrest came at a press conference at Chalong Police Station yesterday afternoon. Chalong Superintendent Police Colonel Wichit Intorrasorn identified the culprit as 36-year-old Janya Tongboonto, a resident of Karon. Presented…
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Another meth dealer busted in Phuket
PHUKET: The Kathu Narcotics Suppression Unit arrested a Bangkok-based drug dealer in Phuket Town on Monday morning, seizing almost 3,000 ya bah (methamphetamine) pills and a Mercedes-Benz as evidence. It was the third drug arrest for the suspect, who was only recently released from jail The arrest was announced at 1pm the same day by Kathu District Chief Siriphat Phathakul.…
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Phuket tuk-tuk hero spoils drunken thief’s getaway bid
PHUKET: A Phuket tuk-tuk driver’s bravery led to the arrest of a man who allegedly tried to steal more than 170,000 baht from his employer early on Monday night. Tuk-tuk driver Phathaphon Phumdee, 34, was driving a fare to Phuket Bus Terminal 1 on Phang Nga Road in Phuket Town when his cell phone rang. It was his wife calling…
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Tragic irony: Phuket road rescue volunteer dies in horror smash
PHUKET: A volunteer emergency rescue worker, who used his spare time to help Phuket road accident victims, died this morning when his own car slammed into a power pole on Chao Fa West Road in Chalong. Chalong Police duty officer Anukul Nuket and fellow officers responded to a call at 1:20am today reporting that a black Honda sedan had overshot…
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Swiss man falls to his death in Phuket
PHUKET: A Swiss man fell to his death from the third-floor balcony of his home on a Patong hillside this morning. The man was living in a rented home on Phisit Gorani Rd, Soi 1 in Patong, not far from Suwankhiriwong Temple, at the time of his death. The man’s live-in Thai girlfriend, a woman of about 30 years old…
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Phuket Police nab postal fraud trio
PHUKET: Chalong Police yesterday held a press conference to announce the arrest two employees of a camera store in Chonburi for allegedly defrauding a camera store owner in Phuket out of more than 150,000 baht’s worth of photographic equipment. Ya Paenkaew, a local motorcycle taxi driver, is also in police custody for his alleged role in the scam. Anankorn Itthi-atsakorn,…
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Phuket Poll: 60% think current ‘low’ season a bad one
PHUKET: About 60% of respondents to a Phuket Gazette poll believe that tourism businesses on the island are doing poorly in the current low season. In total, well over half of respondents (58.7%) had a negative view: 33.6% said the economy was doing “not very well”, while 25.6% said it was doing “very badly” The remainder had positive views: 26.6%…
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Power pole pins car to Phuket hillside
PHUKET: A young Phuket driver, caught off-guard by the slippery roads brought on by pre-dawn deluges this morning, lost control of the Nissan NV he was attempting to drive between Chalong and Kata. The vehicle slid up an embankment, coming to rest wedged between the terrain and a power pole, pinning the driver’s door shut. The driver suffered no injuries…
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FC Phuket beat Phattalung FC, 2-0
PHUKET: FC Phuket rebounded from being bounced out of the Toyota League Cup competition last weekend with a solid 2-0 win at Phatthalung on Sunday. Phattalung FC came into the pairing in tenth place in the 13-team Division 2 South of the AIS Regional League, while FC Phuket had already clinched the division title. Both sides came out aggressively, but…
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Phuket ‘surfer girl’ takes another title
PHUKET: Annisa Flynn, an 11-year-old from Chalong, took top honors in the under-15 category of the Rip Curl GromSearch Surf Series at Kata Beach on Saturday. The event, the second leg of the 2010 Phuket series, was held under very rainy and windy conditions. Despite this, competitors as young as four years of age took part. The GromSearch series is…
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Phuket Opinion: bus U-turn may be red herring
PHUKET: Plans to introduce an “experimental” U-turn channel for the big inter-provincial buses slated to depart Phuket’s new bus terminal on Thepkrasattri Rd exhibit a novel approach to a vexing problem. But the enterprise is likely to confuse motorists who are unfamiliar with the somewhat unique, if not tragic, behavior we witness daily on the roads of Phuket. Let us…
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Phuket set for Indians; Storms ravage Thailand
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Phuket set for Indian Travel Congress Phuket: The Travel Agents’ Association of India (TAAI) is expecting 800 to 1,000 delegates, including spouses, to attend their 59th annual convention – the Indian Travel Congress – in Phuket. The…
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Phuket Oil Spill: diesel slick drifting toward Phi Phi Islands
PHUKET: A large plume of diesel fuel emanating from the wreck of the Choke Thavorn 6 fuel tanker that sunk in heavy seas off Phuket yesterday is heading in the general direction of the Phi Phi Islands in Phuket’s neighboring province Krabi. Crew aboard Royal Thai Navy helicopters monitoring the situation told a reporter from the state-run MCOT news agency…
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Update: Phuket oil spill
PHUKET: As feared 40,000 liters of diesel fuel is leaking from the wreck of Choke Thavorn 6, a small tanker that sunk about 10 kilometers south of Phuket yesterday morning. The state-run Thai News Agency reported at 1am today that Navy helicopters confirmed a large and growing contamination plume above the site of the wreck, which now sits about 30…
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Fuel boat sinks off Phuket: 40,000-liter spill feared
PHUKET: A boat carrying 40,000 liters of oil sank in heavy seas off Phuket yesterday, prompting fears of environmental damage if the vessel could not be salvaged in time. Phuket Marine Police deputy commander Prasert Srikhunrat received a distress call from the crew of Choke Thavorn 6 at about 11am. The vessel was delivering the oil from a tank farm…
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Phuket artificial reef a hit with divers
PHUKET: Officials are trumpeting the success of an artificial coral reef off Racha Yai Island, some 25 kilometers south of Phuket, that has become a hit with foreign and Thai divers. As many as 100 divers are visiting the “Star Ruby Point” reef every day, according to Paitoon Panchaipum, director of the Department of Marine Coastal Resources in Phuket (DMCR).…
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Phuket Town in Bangkok; Phuket King’s Cup
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Phuket Town now in Bangkok Phuket Town is now in Bangkok with the opening of a new restaurant called… well, ‘Phuket Town’. It’s at the corner of Thonglor Soi 6, off Sukhumvit Soi 55, and with a…
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Phuket masseuses robbed at gunpoint
PHUKET: Police are on the lookout for two men wanted for robbing two masseuses at gunpoint in Phuket Town on Wednesday. Phuket City Police duty officer Pol Lt Col Na-non Phithakkultorn told the Gazette he received the report of the robbery at 9:30am on Wednesday and immediately went to investigate. At the scene, in front of the Chao Phraya massage…
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Tsunami drill in Phuket this month
PHUKET: The National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) has announced that a full-scale tsunami evacuation drill will be conducted simultaneously in the six Andaman coast provinces on September 13. All 127 tsunami warning towers in the region will be sounded from 9:30am to 10:30am. The 19 towers in Phuket are located at: Mai Khao, Nai Yang, Bang Tao, Kamala, Patong, Kata,…
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No sex, but lots of vegetables in Phuket next month
PHUKET: Skewered and entranced maa song (‘spirit mediums’, or ‘devotees’) will again embody the gods for next month’s Vegetarian Festival in Phuket. For most local celebrants the festival means nine days of abstention from sex and alcohol, and rigid adherence to a vegetarian diet. Mind-blowing processions, ear-splitting firecrackers, traffic jams, peaceful chants and vegetarian food return to Phuket to reveal…
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Philippine Ambassador puts Phuket tourism on the agenda
PHUKET: In her first official visit to Phuket as Philippine Ambassador to Thailand, Linglingay F. Lacanlale today met Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop to discuss a range of issues. At the top of the agenda was promoting the cross-flow of tourists between the Philippines and Phuket. “This is the one area that I am looking into. We both can learn from each…
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Five-car smash in Koh Kaew, Phuket
PHUKET: An Alfa Romeo was among five vehicles damaged in a road accident near the entrance to the Boat Lagoon marina in Phuket this afternoon. The accident, on Thepkrasattri Road southbound in Koh Kaew, appears to have been caused when one vehicle braked suddenly. The driver of a pickup that was the first of the five vehicles damaged told the…
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Phuket tourism firms win TAT awards
PHUKET: Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has announced the names of nine local tourism businesses and associations awarded prizes in the 8th Annual Thailand Tourism Awards. The biennial awards are designed to instill awareness and promote responsible management in tourism among tourism entrepreneurs, ultimately leading to sustainable tourism. Bangornrat Shinaprayoon, director of the TAT South Region 4 Office in Phuket…
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Laundry larceny: the gig’s up for Phuket garment grabber
PHUKET: Kathu Police raided a house in Patong early Wednesday morning and arrested a Thai woman who stole clothes from laundry shops and sold them as secondhand garments. Officers led by Lt Col Sakon Bunditsak arrested Ruengrin Sukbunjong, 30, from Phang Nga, at her house in Patong. Seized as evidence during the raid were about 300 items of clothing, ranging…
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