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Flooding brings Phuket Town to a standstill
PHUKET: Severe flooding has affected large areas of Phuket this morning, with traffic brought to a standstill throughout Phuket Town and tailbacks of more than 10 kilometers on the main arteries leading into the city. The Phuket Gazette has spoken to many motorists across the island who were still attempting to reach their destinations. One family said they had not…
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Tiger Disco fire: Expert rates “20 per cent of upper floor as highly flammable’
PHUKET: The chief inspector from a team of expert architects called in to investigate the Tiger Discotheque inferno yesterday said he believed that 20 per cent of the upper area inside the disco was “highly flammable”. Pol Lt Col Bundit Pradubsuk, chairman of the Association of Siamese Architects Under Royal Patronage (ASA) Security Architecture Committee, revealed the news during an…
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Tiger to pay families of victims B1mn compensation each
PHUKET: The management of the Tiger Discotheque has announced that it will pay one million baht in compensation to each of the families of those who died in the blaze early Friday morning. General Manager Sema Sinchai also announced that the Tiger Group will cover all medical expenses of the 11 people injured, as well as pay compensation to them.…
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British tourist confirmed as Tiger Disco fire victim
PHUKET: Royal Thai Police forensics experts have identified British national Michael Tzouvanni, 24, as one of the four people killed in the Tiger Discotheque fire in Patong early last Friday morning. The news was announced at a press conference led by Assistant National Police Chief Charamporn Suramanee at the Royal Thai Police Institute of Forensic Medicine in Bangkok, where the…
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Tesco Lotus counters protests against Phuket Town project
PHUKET: Thailand’s leading retailer Tesco Lotus has issued a corporate statement in response to the more than 500 local traders, business owners and residents in Phuket Town who protested on Thursday against its plan to build a large shopping mall on Bangkok Road. The statement reads: “Tesco Lotus has been operating in Thailand for 18 years, delivering excellent value for…
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Phuket contractors protest rising sand prices
PHUKET: A group of construction contractors and building material retailers yesterday gathered at Phuket Provincial Hall to protest the cost of building sand, which has spiraled upward following the raid and closure of an illegal quarry in Phang Nga. The protesters filed a joint complaint, addressed to Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha and Phuket Chamber of Commerce committee member Samran Sinthong.…
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Overturned tour bus cleared from main Phuket road
PHUKET: The overturned bus that blocked Thepkrasattri Road northbound early this morning, causing long tailbacks during rush hour, has been moved and traffic is now flowing freely along the busy Phuket road.At the scene, Sen Sgt Maj Kitti Klaisamniang of Phuket City Traffic Police told the Phuket Gazette that there were no passengers on board the bus at the time…
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Traffic tailbacks in Phuket as tour bus flips
PHUKET: A large tour bus flipped on to its side before dawn today, blocking three lanes of traffic and causing long tailbacks of up to 30 minutes on Phuket’s busy Thepkrasattri Road. The bus, which reportedly overturned at about 3am, came to rest on the long uphill stretch of Thepkrasattri Road northbound between Supercheap and the new Kasikorn Bank branch…
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Tiger Disco fire: Governor visits survivor who ‘leaped to safety’
PHUKET: The Phuket Governor and his wife this morning visited a survivor of the Tiger Discotheque fire, who gave the press a first-hand account of how she leaped from the blazing nightspot, breaking an ankle in order to save her life. After the visit, the governor revealed that the Patong Police are now under investigation for neglect of duty for…
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Tiger Disco fire: Pheu Thai’s Prompong calls for bar safety crackdown
PHUKET: After inspecting the gutted remains of the Tiger Discotheque over the weekend, Government Spokesman Prompong Nopparit has called for increased safety measures at all 198 registered bars, pubs and other nightlife venues registered in Patong. “An examination of Tiger Discotheque reveals that the building construction itself was a problem. Its walls were made from a flammable foam material. Other…
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Tiger Disco fire: Styrofoam decor may have fuelled inferno
PHUKET: The highly flammable polystyrene foam used in making the Tiger Discotheque’s iconic decorations has been named by building inspectors as one of many possible fire hazards that contributed to the deadly fire last Friday. The news came yesterday as officers from the Department of Public Works and Town and Country Planning, the Association of Siamese Architects Under Royal Patronage…
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Phuket Gazette: Army files complaint against Thaksin’s lawyer
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Prayuth files complaint against Thaksin’s lawyer for defamation Phuket Gazette / The NationPHUKET: Army commander-in-chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha has asked police to take legal action against red-shirt lawyer Robert Amsterdam and a Thai female interpreter for allegedly defaming the Army.On Friday, Prayuth had a legal officer, Colonel…
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Tiger Disco fire: British man appeals to find lost brother
PHUKET: A British man today held a public appeal to find his brother, who was last known to be at Tiger Discotheque at the time the deadly fire broke out at about 4am on Friday. With tears in his eyes, Joseph Tzouvanni, 26, told the press in Phuket that his brother, Michael Pio Tzouvanni, 24, had not been heard from…
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Tiger Disco fire: French, British named as probable victims
PHUKET: Patong Police Superintendent Jirapat Phochanaphan this afternoon confirmed to the Phuket Gazette that police were now investigating at least three more missing persons now suspected of being victims of the Tiger Discotheque fire that killed four people early Friday morning. “Police are investigating four people named as missing. We will ask for DNA samples to be provided so they…
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Phuket knock off Bangkok FC, 1-0
PHUKET: Phuket FC fans who gathered at the Nok Sanarm sports bar near Surakul Stadium in Phuket Town this morning erupted with cheer when the Islanders scored late in their away-match at Bangkok FC, then held on to win 1-0. The result marks the Islanders third consecutive victory, all from a 1-0 scoreline, and gives them great momentum going into…
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Patong Tunnel inches forward to 2018
PHUKET: The Expressway Authority of Thailand (EXAT), the government agency tasked with conducting a feasibility study of the Patong Road Tunnel project, has said that the tunnel from Kathu to Patong could be completed by 2018 if the budget is procured by the 2013 financial year. A study undertaken in November 2011 projected the amount required from the central government…
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Phuket corruption probe reveals “hundreds’ of suspicious land titles
PHUKET: The investigation by the Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) into illegally issued land titles in Phuket has identified 100 plots that will be investigated thoroughly, but the number could easily double if tip-offs from local informants are accurate.PACC Secretary General Col Dusadee Arayawuth said that “some” of the 100 plots investigated so far had been cleared and…
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Mass-circulation ‘Asia Weekly’ launched in Phuket
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette is proud this week to be ushering into Phuket the China Daily Asia Weekly, a world-class publication built in Hong Kong by, among others, senior expatriate editors from the UK, the United States, Europe, India, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.Please find the launch issue tucked into this week’s Phuket Gazette, now on sale throughout the…
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Phuket Opinion: ‘Unframe’ your vision of the world
PHUKET: In this week’s hard-copy edition of the Phuket Gazette, we are proud to carry the Phuket launch issue of the China Daily’s Asia Weekly newspaper. The journal offers Gazette readers a long-awaited – and much-needed – fresh perspective on the economic giant at our doorstep, and her relationship with Asia and the world. More than a million Chinese tourists…
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Phuket Airport B5.7bn expansion “likely to start next year’
PHUKET: The 5.7-billion-baht expansion of Phuket International Airport is likely to begin next year, and take two and half years to complete, the Senate Standing Committee on Transportation was told this week. The Standing Committee, led by Committee Chairman Kecha Saksomboon, heard the news at a high-profile meeting at Phuket Airport on Wednesday. “The 5.7-billion-baht expansion project has now passed…
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Tiger Disco Fire: Friend identifies watch, bracelet of missing Thai waitress
PHUKET: A Thai waitress who worked at the Tiger Discotheque may have been identified today after a friend recognized a wristwatch and a bracelet found on one of the four bodies incinerated by the blaze. Phuket Provincial Police Commander Chonasit Wattanavrangkul today confirmed that several people had come forward to identify at least one of the four victims incinerated in…
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Round-the-clock treatment fails to save Phuket dolphin
PHUKET: The ailing striped dolphin that was under treatment at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) died last weekend, two weeks after she washed ashore in Phang Nga. Despite round-the-clock treatment that included the fitting of a harness to help her swim, the female dolphin took her last breath on August 12. Dr Kongkiat Kittiwattanawong, who heads the PMBC’s Endangered…
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Protest against Tesco Lotus in Phuket Town
PHUKET: More than 500 local traders, business owners and residents marched on Provincial Hall yesterday to petition the Governor to stop construction of a new Tesco Lotus outlet planned for Phuket Town. After assembling at Rama X Park (Suan Luang), the protesters marched through the streets carrying signs with slogans reading “Tesco ruins our life in Phuket Town”, “We don’t…
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Phuket Sports: F1 mid-season report card
PHUKET: The season is half way through, everyone is taking the half-term holiday and it’s time to look at where the teams and drivers are. Red Bull gets a B. They have had many solid performances, but there are suspicions of cheating in tests in a car that is now off the pace. They have certainly pushed the regulations to…
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Tiger fire “sounded like a bomb’, report staff
PHUKET: Staff at the Tiger Discotheque in Patong initially thought the sound of an exploding transformer was a bomb, which caused people to panic and stampede towards the door when fire broke out at the Phuket venue early this morning. Four people were killed and at least 12 others injured, according to officials. Thamrongsak Boonrak, Legal Counsel for Tiger Discotheque,…
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4 dead, 11 injured in Tiger disco inferno
PHUKET: A pre-dawn blaze at the popular Tiger Bar and Discotheque in Phuket has left four people dead and 11 people injured. Among the injured were four French nationals.Kathu Police were notified of the blaze at the well-known Patong nightspot at about 4am. Patong Municipality Fire Department rescuers raced to the scene with eight fire engines. It took them about…
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Phuket Prisoners bestowed Royal Pardon
PHUKET: More than 100 inmates at Phuket Provincial Prison were given a Royal Pardon today in honor of HM Queen Sirikit’s 80th birthday and HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn’s 60th birthday.The Royal Pardons were granted by HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej to 750 convicts across Thailand today, 175 of which were incarcerated at Phuket Prison.Phuket Provincial Chief Administrative Officer Chaiwat Taepee…
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Phuket National Park chief transferred after island resorts raided
PHUKET: National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department (DNP) Director-General Damrong Phidet yesterday announced that the chief of Sirinath National Park will be transferred from Phuket after less than a month in office. “The Sirinath National Park Chief will be transferred to work at the DNP [offices] in Bangkok for 30 days,” said Mr Damrong. He went on to explain…
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Mother of Phuket Swedish murder victim sues for B24.5mn as trial postponed
PHUKET: Swedish nationals Johan Sebastian Ljung and Tommy Viktor Soderlund, who have been charged with the stabbing murder of Maksim Schantz on August 1 last year, appeared at Phuket Provincial Court on Tuesday. However, as multiple witnesses, necessary to the case, failed to present themselves at the court, the judge reconvened the trial for 9:30am on November 2. Aeknara Luangsanam…
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Chuvit Facebook tip-off sparks Phuket gambling raid
PHUKET: Phuket Police last night raided a gambling den operating near a major government school in Kathu after its location was revealed by controversial MP Chuwit Kamolvisit, leader of the Rak Thailand Party, on one of his Facebook pages. The raid on the gambling den, at 7:20pm in a house about 100 meters from Baan Kathu School, was conducted by…
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