Northern Thailand News
Northern Thailand news, Chiang Mai news, business, tourism, and culture—stay updated with breaking stories, local events, and travel insights from Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Pai, and beyond. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Northern Thailand news source.
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Forest fires destroy 2.7 million rai of land whilst Chiang Mai is back on top
by Tossapol Boonpat Bush fires have devastated nearly 2.7 million rai (there are 2.5 Rai in an Acre) of forests in nine northern provinces. The Mae Hong Son forest fire and haze control centre says that satellite imaging from the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency shows that from January 1 to March 16, 2,680,634 rai was destroyed by wildfires.…
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Passengers injured as bus overturns in Si Saket
PHOTOS: ร่วมด้วยช่วยกัน / ธนบุรี 12 No deaths have been reported following a bus overturning in Si Saket in eastern Thailand today. The bus, travelling from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani, overturned on Rattana Buri – Sisaket Road in Si Saket, east of Bangkok on the Cambodian border. No deaths were reported but there were some injuries in the incident.
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Rescued baby elephant transferred to specialist elephant hospital in Surin
PHOTOS: The Nation A baby elephant, rescued from an unused drain in Bueng Kan, on the Laos border near Vientienne, has been transferred to a specialist elephant hospital in Surin for treatment. Wildlife officials moved the baby elephant, now named ‘Chabakaew’, from Bueng Kan’s Bungkla district yesterday. It reached the elephant hospital in Surin this morning. A team of veterinarians…
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Northern smoke haze easing slowly
Either by hard work, serendipity or pure luck, the smog and haze in the North has eased considerably within the seven-day timeframe set last Tuesday by the Thai PM General Prayut Chan-o-cha. The PM flew into the smoke-stricken Chiang Mai last Tuesday to meet with northern provincial governors to work out active solutions. During the visit, the premier made clear that…
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Royal approval for four light-rail train projects, including Phuket
A Royal Decree has given final approval for electric light-rail train projects in Phuket, Phang Nga, Chiang Mai and Nakhon Ratchasima. Komchadluek reports that His Majesty the King has given the royal go-ahead for the long-touted and much-discussed projects from Phuket to Phang Nga, Chiang Mai and Nakhonn Ratchasima. The royal approval was issued on April 4, 2019 for the…
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Ministry works towards ending sugarcane burning in three years
The Ministry of Industry is proposing to the Thai Cabinet a plan to end sugarcane farmers’ annual burn-off of their plantations before harvesting. The practice is being largely blamed for the north’s smog problems. But they are recommending a three year moratorium before completely stamping out the annual agri-burning. Thai PBS reports that the plan will be incorporated into a…
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Tourism dries up for Songkran in north this year
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) says tourism levels during the Songkran break will be down by 10%, partly due to the northern haze problems. Chiang Mai is one of the country’s most popular Songkran festival locations. Meanwhile, the Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA) says the strong baht is encouraging Thais to travel overseas during this year’s Songkran festival. TAT…
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Baby elephant being moved to specialised care after falling in drain
Officials have relocated a baby elephant rescued from a drain in a Bueng Kan village on the weekend to a wildlife protection facility to receive treatment for an infection.Phu Wua Wildlife Sanctuary officials moved the young elephant from an open pen at the edge of the forest in Bung Kla district to the Kokkwang Forest protection base nearby. The base…
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Moral and social media support pours in for leading medical marijuana researcher
Khao Kwan Foundation president Decha Siripat has been receiving moral and social media support after a combined force of police, military and anti-narcotic officials raided the foundation’s offices in Suphan Buri last Wednesday, seizing about 200 marijuana plants, cannabis oil, dried marijuana seeds and marijuana powder. Some foundation staff were also held in police custody on charges of illegal possession of narcotics whilst a summons…
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“Toxic air pollution shortens children’s lives by 20 months”
In the wake of the PM’s visit to Chiang Mai this week, and more than two months of high levels of hazardous air pollution, a report emerges that links air pollution to the life expectancy of children. The international report says that air pollution will shorten life expectancy of children by up to 20 months on average. The 2019 State…
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Counting down PM’s 7 day deadline in Chiang Mai – so far no change
by Piyaporn Wongruang, Tim Newton Last week PM Prayut Chan-o-cha issued an order to end the haze crisis in the North within seven days and declared the situation part of the national agenda. Two days to go and there is still no respite of the hazardous levels of smoke and smog besetting the northern capital and adjacent provinces. The PM met…
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Smoke haze hits northern Songkran hotel bookings
By Sakaorat Sirima, Nattawat Laping The Northern smog crisis is taking its toll on the popular tourist region, with officials admitting a significant drop seen in hotel-room bookings, even in Chiang Mai, which is otherwise hugely popular as a destination for Songkran celebrations. “Thai tourists are worried that the haze will harm their health,” La-iad Boonsrithong, the president of the…
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Cave rescue doctors reveal the drugs used to sedate the Mu Pa football team
The Australian medical consultants involved in the rescue of the 13 Mu Pa (Wild Boar) football team players from the Tham Luang Caves last year say that the evacuees were anesthetised with Ketamine before being swum and carried to safety. Richard Harris, the South Australian anaesthetist and cave diver who led the medical part of the rescue operation, and his…
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Police intercept 9 million methamphetamine pills near Chiang Rai
Chiang Rai police have foiled an attempt to smuggle nine million methamphetamine pills in Wiang Pa Pao district this morning. Police found the drugs when they intercepted and searched a car on the Chiang Rai-Chiang Mai road in Ban Tala village in Tambon Sanslaee. Police declined to give details of the arrested suspects, saying they need to conduct further investigations…
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74 year old Swede found dead in his Udon Thani home
PHOTO: khaosod.com A 74 year old Swedish man was found dead in his Udon Thani home yesterday. He is believed to have died about a week ago. Police say there are no suspicious circumstances. His body was sent for an autopsy at the Udon Thani Hospital. A neighbour called police at 6.45pm last night to check the house in Moo 1…
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Big farm companies causing the smoke problems in the north
by Chularat Saengpassa, Sakaorat Sirima Experts see little changing, even after Prayut’s visit to Chiang Mai today, and blame the government’s policy to push corn cultivation. The PM is in Chiang Mai today speaking to provincial governors. But eminent medical specialists based in Chiang Mai are warning that the health impacts from prolonged exposure to smog are real and urgent tangible…
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PM heads north tomorrow to tackle smoke and haze issues
Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha flies to Chiang Mai tomorrow morning (Tuesday) to host a meeting of the upper northern provincial governors to discuss the haze and smoke which has enveloped the region for the past two months. A deputy spokesman for the Government, Lt-Gen Weerachon Sukondhapatipak, says the PM has been closely monitoring the haze situation and wants first-hand information…
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Buriram villager killed by rampaging wild elephant
by Surachai Piraksa A 37 year old man from a village in Buriram province has been stomped to death by a wild elephant early today in Tambon Lam Nang Rong. Following the discovery of his dead body at 6am in a rubber plantation, police and rescue workers, along with a medical examiner, went to inspect the scene. They found the…
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Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, continue to suffer under persistent haze
PHOTO: Chiang Rai Times Air pollution levels remain high in many of the northern population areas with little respite on the horizon for the smog-stricken northern provinces. Chiang Mai Natural Resource and Environment Office director Saratcha Suriyakul Na Ayudhaya says that public, private and other sectors are contributing to the lowering the levels of air pollution by spraying water and…
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Two day rescue of six baby elephants stuck in mud pool in Nakhon Ratchasima – VIDEO
PHOTOS/VIDEO: DNP Six baby elephants have been rescued from mud pool in Nakhon Ratchasima following two days of delicate efforts from officials. The Department of National Parks Wildlife and Plants Conservation reports that they found the baby elephants on Wednesday while forest officers were patrolling in the forest in Sengsang, Nakhon Ratchasima, northeast of Thailand. During the afternoon they stumbled…
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Study: Psychosis in teens linked to air pollution
“One of the most consistent findings over the past few decades has been a link between cities and psychosis.” Whilst the high levels of air-pollution, smog and smoke remain high in the north and north-eastern provinces of Thailand, a new study has been released that links high levels of smog and psychoses in young adults. Joanne Newbury, lead author of…
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60 year old arrested over alleged rape of neighbour’s 14 year old daughter
Police have arrested a 60 year old man for allegedly raping a 14 year old girl in Khon Kaen.The suspect, identified only as ‘Song’, was arrested after the girl’s mother filed a police complaint saying the man had allegedly raped her daughter, and on several occasions. The woman told the police that she first learned of the rapes on March…
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Stash of methamphetamine tablets seized from Mae Sai plantation
by Natthawat Laping About 50,000 methamphetamine pills have been seized by rangers of the Pha Muang task force along the Thailand-Myanmar border in Chiang Rai province. The drugs were seized at 6am yesterday (Monday) when patrolling rangers heard a dog barking at someone in an isolated banana plantation in Muang Daeng Tai village, Tambon Mae Sai, in Mae Sai district.…
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Thaksin: Election rigged with many irregularities
Former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra told Agence France-Presse yesterday that Thailand’s election was marred by “irregularities” and “rigged”. He says the military rigged the election system to retain their political grip on the kingdom. “Everyone knows in Thailand, everyone international that observed the election in Thailand, knows that(there is irregularities,” he told AFP in English. “What we call, we should call,…
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Summer storms on the way for north, north-east
FILE PHOTO People living in the north of Thailand are being warned to brace themselves for some summer thunderstorms until Wednesday. The Meteorological Department issued an alert today saying the storms will be caused by a high-pressure system from China that will interact with the hot weather over upper Thailand. Outbreaks of summer thunderstorms will be likely from today to…
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King awards rescuers of Mu Pa football team
His Majesty the King has awarded 187 people, including 115 foreigners, with The Most Admirable Order of the Direkgunabhorn for the rescue of the Mu Pa football team last July. The announcement in the Royal Gazette reads the government recognises that those people who helped those in peril performed good deeds and deserved to be honored. They will be granted the…
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Mu Pa football team helps recover equipment from Tham Luang Caves
PHOTOS: The Chiang Rai PR Office The 27 year old Coach Aek (left), and other members from the Mu Pa (Wild Boar) football squad, were on hand to help recover equipment from the Tham Luang Caves this week. Chiang Rai’s Tham Luang caves, the scene of the international cave rescue last July, remains closed to all visitors since February 19 to…
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100 houses damaged after storm hits Nakhon Ratchasima districts
by Prasit Tangprasert A tropical storm has left more than 100 houses damaged after it hit Nakhon Ratchasima province, north-east of Bangkok, yesterday. Nakhon Ratchasima’s Governor Wichian Chantanothai says… “We are in the process of surveying damages.” He made the comment as he was handing out relief items to storm victims in Sikhiu district. He said authorities planned to ask soldiers…
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31 injured when bus overturned in Nakhon Ratchasima
by Prasit TangprasertPHOTOS:โนนสูง “อาสา” ฐานหน้าโรงพยาบาลโนนสูง Thirty one passengers have been injured, two critically, when a Nong Khai-Rayong inter-provincial bus overturned in Nakhon Ratchasima early this morning. Police and rescue workers were alerted at 2.40am to the scene on Mitraparp Highway in Ban Don Tabaeng, Noen Sung district in Nakhon Ratchasima. The blue and white air conditioned bus was carrying 41…
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Specialist clinics for pollution-related symptoms to be set up around the country
The Public Health Ministry says they are now preparing to set up specialised clinics to treat patients suffering from pollution-related symptoms in the northern parts of the country. “At present, we have just one such clinic in the country. So, we have decided to introduce many more,” according to permanent secretary Dr Sukhum Karnchanapimai. He made the pledge in response…
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