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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The Isan Project honours a hero of Tham Luang cave rescue
The Isan Project has collaborated with the TAT on new marketing campaign featuring music commemorating the Tham Luang cave rescue. The story of how 13 young men, members of the Mu Pa (Wild Boar) football team, were saved in the caves of Chiang Rai continues to ignites interest in the miraculous internationally-followed rescue in July 2018 from the flooded Tham…
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4.4 million methamphetamine pills seized near Laos border
Police seized 4.4 million methamphetamine pills worth more than 400 million baht after a police chase in the Northeastern province Bueng Kan near the Thai-Laos border. Thai media says the alleged drug traffickers threw black bags full of the drugs out onto the road during the police chase and drove off into a rubber farm in the Bung Kla district.…
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Lucky escape for chickens in Udon Thani as crocodile caught trying to enter coop
Rescue workers in the north-eastern province of Udon Thani have ruined a hungry crocodile’s dinner plans, capturing it as it was trying to enter a chicken coop in the sub-district of Mak Khaeng. Nation Thailand reports that local rescuers were called to remove the 3 metre long croc as it was attempting to enter the chicken enclosure and enjoy a…
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Mae Sot immigration chief transferred after inmate escape
Following the escape of 2 inmates, the immigration chief in Tak’s Mae Sot district has been transferred while an investigation takes place. The 2 Uighur inmates escaped by using soap to corrode the iron cell bars. They rubbed dish soap on the cell bars routinely. Over time, the iron started to rust and they were able to break the bars.…
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Students at Naresuan University mark 1973 uprising with candlelit vigil
As tens of thousands of protesters gathered at Government House in Bangkok yesterday, students at Naresuan University in northern Thailand were commemorating a 1973 uprising with a candlelit vigil. The October 14, 1973 popular uprising, known as the “Day of Great Sorrow” was a defining moment in Thailand’s history, ending the ruling military dictatorship of the time and changing the…
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Residents in border areas accuse officials of lax control over Burmese drivers
Residents in the Mae Sot district of Tak province, bordering Myanmar, have criticised what they see as lax checking of Burmese truck drivers arriving from the Covid-hit neighbour next door. Concerned residents are calling for the Friendship Bridge to be temporarily closed in light of a surge in virus cases in Myanmar. The bridge, which spans the Moei River, connects…
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Alleged kidnapping attempt in Isaan region, missing child found tied up
A girl was allegedly kidnapped by a group in the Isaan province Amnat Charoen. She was found with tied up and her was mouth stuffed with paper. The girl says a teenager approached her and offered candy. She said she wasn’t hungry and that she didn’t have money, but the teen allegedly replied that it was okay and he had…
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Khon Kaen school director accused of sexually abusing students
5 students in the north-eastern province of Khon Kaen are accusing the director of Ban Thung Mon School, in the district of Ban Phai, of sexual abuse. The girls have filed an official police complaint, with the assistance of Pawanamporn Thaewnon-ngiew, a teacher at the school. The Bangkok Post reports she accompanied them to the police station after they confided…
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Mobile testing units dispatched to Tak after Burmese drivers test positive
After 3 Burmese lorry drivers tested positive for Covid-19 in the northern province of Tak, officials have sent mobile testing units to the Mae Sot district to test around 4,000 Thais and Burmese in high-risk border areas. Mae Sot mayor, Thoetkiat Shinsoranan, says all residents are being told to stay home as much as possible. The Bangkok Post reports that…
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Man arrested for posing as air force pilot, conning woman out of 800,000 baht
A 44 year old man has been arrested in the northern province of Sukothai, after claiming to be a pilot with the Royal Thai Air Force and cheating his girlfriend out of 800,000 baht. Thai Residents reports that the man, named only as Prapol, denies all the charges against him. The victim, named only as Miss A, says she met…
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8,000 homes inundated in Nakhon Ratchasima after 2 days of torrential rain
The Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is urging emergency services and the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation in the Pak Chong district of Nakhon Ratchasima, in Thailand’s north east, to urgently attend to the suffering of the region’s flood victims. Flooding has cut electricity and water supplies to several areas around the district. 8,000+ houses have been flooded after the overflowing…
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Mathayom student helps deliver baby on Mae Sot street
A Mathayom student helped deliver a baby boy after a woman went into labour while walking on a street in Tak’s Mae Sot district which borders Myanmar. The student, known as Buntorn, was walking home from school when she saw a woman in pain and people gathered around. Buntorn realised the woman was about to give birth and quickly got…
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Man ran over by Bangkok-Ubon train in Nakhon Ratchasima province
A man has been run over by a Bangkok-Ubon Ratchathani train early this morning in the northeastern province of Korat, with rescuers saying his body was cut in half. Police rescue workers say they discovered the man’s mutilated body at around 2am about 200 metres from the Huay Thalaeng district railway station. Police say the man appears to be between…
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Market vendor returns home to honor promise to late mother after winning lottery
A market vendor in Trat province is returning home to “honour a promise to her late mother” after winning a 6 million baht first prize in the country’s state bi-monthly lottery draw (drawn on the 1st and 16th of each month). 49 year old Metta Pomchaiya went home to Sakon Nakhon during the country’s Covid-19 lockdown phase to make merit…
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25 arrests as police shut down online gambling sites
25 Thai nationals have been arrested after investigators uncovered 6 online gambling websites run by a gang with funds running into millions of baht. The Pattaya News reports that arrests have taken place in the northern city of Chiang Rai and in Nonthaburi, just north of central Bangkok. It’s understood officers have been tracking the websites for several months. The…
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Wife who wanted a divorce allegedly killed by husband in murder-suicide
A woman in the north-eastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima has allegedly been shot dead by her husband because she wanted a divorce. It’s alleged the man then turned the gun on himself, dying from a gunshot wound to the head. Police officers called to a property in the sub-district of Thephalai found the bodies of 46 year old Mongkhol Aksorn,…
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8 Roi-et volunteers killed, 33 injured in bus crash at Nakhon Ratchasima
7 people have been killed and another 33 injured when a tour bus collided into the back of an 18 wheeler trailer truck in Nakhon Ratchasima early yesterday, on the way to Pattaya. The double decker was travelling on the Nakhon Ratchasima-Kabin Buri road in the Chaimongkhol subdistrict just before 4am Saturday morning when the incident happened. The truck and…
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More than 1,000 pigs killed in effort to contain spread of virus in Lampang
The outbreak of ‘porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome’ caused the Department of Livestock Development to order the slaying of pigs in several subdistricts of Mae Tha district in the northern Lampang province. The head of the department says it has been able to prevent the outbreak from spreading out of the declared areas due to the elimination order, but the…
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PM to tackle Northern Thailand’s seasonal haze… again
The Thai prime minister says he’s working on a plan to tackle Northern Thailand’s seasonal haze problem by cutting back manmade bushfires known to largely contribute to the air pollution. The issue has been broadly covered in Thai and foreign media for years, and been followed up with ministerial visits, promises, and little else. PM Prayut Chan-o-cha spoke with governors…
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Border police find 160 kilograms of marijuana hidden in fertiliser sacks
Border police found 160 kilograms of compressed marijuana near an Isaan roadside. Police say they believe the marijuana was trafficked across the Mekong River. No suspects were found and no arrests were made, at this stage. Police suspect the marijuana was smuggled in on long tail boats from Laos to the Isaan province of Nakhon Phanom during the tropical storm…
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Heavy rain across the country this weekend – local forecasts
Heavy rain is expected across much of Thailand over the next few days, mostly as a result of the intensity of a tropical storm crossing into Vietnam today, ‘Noul’, from the South China Sea. The low pressure cell will help intensify the effects of the south west monsoon too. But the remnants of the storm won’t “slam” into Northern Thailand…
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Lottery winner had 8 winning tickets, a total windfall of 48 million baht
The winning number from yesterday’s bi-monthly Thai lottery was 244083 making instant millionaires out of some lucky Thais. A winning ticket receives 6 million baht. Other numbers are drawn with lower prizes in the elaborate, and highly popular, live broadcast of the drawing of the numbers. The winner of a massive 48 million baht – 8 winning tickets – is…
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Isaan man’s body found in burnt truck, police investigate possible murder
A man’s body was found burned in a truck that had been set on fire in the Isaan province Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat). The man’s employer described the case as “strange” and police are investigating for evidence of a possible homicide. Medical examiners from the Institute of Forensic Medicine autopsied the body and identified the man as 59 year old Saman…
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Dengue fever rises up to 6,024 in 4 Isaan provinces
Dengue fever is spreading in Northeast Thailand with more than 6,000 cases and 4 deaths in the past 8 months. The cases were reported in the Isaan provinces Khon Kaen, Kalasin, Mahasarakham and Roi Et, according to the Office of Disease Prevention. The mosquito spread disease is also known as “bone break fever” because common symptoms include pain in muscles,…
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“Uzbek footballer is the only player infected” – Public Health Ministry
Sports officials insist all Thai League football matches would still be held despite the Uzbek Buriram United player testing positive for Covid-19 last Thursday. The President of Buriram United Football Club, Newin Chidchob, confirmed that there was only one Buriram United player infected with Covid-19. “He was asymptomatic and now under the care of physicians at a local hospital in…
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The footballer is positive, but not Thai – Public Health Department
A 29 year old Uzbekistani footballer has tested positive for Covid-19 in the days prior to the first Toyota Thai football league starting today. The entire participating 1,115 football players and staff of the Thai football league were required to conduct a Covid-19 test on Thursday this week before the first match which is scheduled for today. The positive result…
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Hunt for wild tiger sighted at maize plantation in northern Thailand
A drone has been deployed in the hunt for a wild tiger believed to have wandered outside its natural habitat at the Huey Kha Kheng wildlife sanctuary. The sanctuary, in the northern province of Uthai Thani, has brought in forest rangers in an attempt to track down the tiger, whose footprints were spotted in a nearby maize plantation. PHOTO: Thai…
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‘Snake’ cave closed after visitors, looking for lottery numbers, graffiti the rocks
A cave known for its rocks resembling snakeskin is closed after some visitors vandalised the cave by rubbing the rock formations, hoping to find lucky lottery numbers. Other people wrote insulting graffiti on the rocks. The Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa ordered the immediate closure of the Phu Langka National Park’s Naga Cave until officials can come up with a plan…
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Ubon Ratchathani teacher charged with sexual abuse
An Isaan teacher is facing sexual harassment and abuse charges after he allegedly paid young students in exchange for sexual acts. The practice is being frequently reported in Thai media these days as the taboo of reporting these cases is slowly raised. The Ubon Ratchathani teacher allegedly sexually abused 5 boys, ages 11 to 12, on numerous occasions, paying them…
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2 Burmese nationals arrested while crossing river into Thailand
Border forces have arrested 2 Burmese nationals as they were crossing a river in the northern province of Chiang Rai in an attempt to enter Thailand. There has been an increase in security patrols along the border with Myanmar in recent weeks, as the country experiences a spike in Covid-19 cases. There have been reports of Burmese nationals attempting to…
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