Northern Thailand News
Stay updated with the latest Northern Thailand news at The Thaiger, your ultimate source for regional information. Keep informed on local events, business developments, and lifestyle stories in popular locations like Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Pai.
Our in-depth coverage includes famous monuments such as the White Temple and Doi Suthep. Whether you’re a resident or a visitor, The Thaiger’s Northern Thailand news page is your essential guide to exploring this culturally rich region. Delve into the vibrant community and diverse culture with our expertly curated content, designed to keep you connected and well-informed.
-
Sponsored Top 10 reasons for expats to get a comprehensive health insurance in Thailand
Moving to Thailand offers plenty of excitement and adventure, but the local healthcare system can be complex to navigate as an expat. From unique health risks to high costs at private hospitals, having a comprehensive health insurance plan is essential....
-
Mother disappears after abandoning newborn in rubber plantation
FILE PHOTO A mother is on the run after delivering her own baby boy in a hut on a Loei rubber plantation yesterday, just a day before her husband, who was in custody for two years, was to be released. Loei is in far north-east Thailand near the Laos border. The baby, with its umbilical cord still attached, was found…
-
5,000 Buriram citizens register for medical marijuana possession
by Tanakorn Sangiam The 90 day registration period for persons in possession of marijuana, without facing prosecution, end this Tuesday, May 21. 5,000+ persons in Buriram, north-east Thailand, have already registered their possession during this period. A community seminar on marijuana planting and management also took place yesterday to prepare Buriram province as a key manufacturer of medical marijuana. About…
-
Two construction workers win big in the National Lottery
PHOTO: Daily News Two Thai construction workers have won big in this week’s national lottery. Two wins but two very different methods used to select the winning number, 926526. Wathida Trinet had been visiting Khon Kaen but works in Wang Noi to the north of Bangkok, according to Daily News. There she noticed a gecko clambering over the house number “526” and…
-
15 year old girl arrested for trying to bury her baby alive
A 15 year old girl is now in protective custody in Nakhon Ratchasima, north-east of Bangkok, just one day after her newly-born baby boy survived being buried alive in a local field. A villager found the baby in a cassava plantation about one kilometre from Ban Nong Kham village in Tambon Thalad on Wednesday. The infant was taken to the…
-
Head-on collision kills five, injures three in Khon Kaen
Five football fans, travelling to watch the Thai Port Football Club, have been killed when their rented van crashed head-on with a water tanker in Khon Kaen this morning. Police said the incident occurred on the Chumphae Si Chomphu road in Moo 6 village in Tambon Wang Hin Lad. Three others people were injured in the collision. Four men died…
-
Thai troops kill four drug couriers and seize large haul of ketamine
Thai troops have shot and killed four alleged drug couriers and seized more than 300 kilograms of ketamine. The incident happened last night in a corn plantation near a bordering river in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai. Acting on a tip-off that the drugs were to be smuggled from Myanmar for delivery to a Thai customer in Ban…
-
Thai government desperately needs a ‘clean air act’
by Pratch Rujivanarom Environment campaigners are urging the government to approve a clean-air act to solve the country’s chronic smog problem and honour citizens’ right to breathe clean air. Dr Wirun Limsawart, a policy analyst at the Society and Health Institute and member of the Clean Air Network Thailand, said at a press conference there was no more time for…
-
Thai customs seize medical cannabis oil at Laos border
by Kamthon Kongsombat Nong Khai customs officers have charged a Lao citizen with trying to smuggle medical cannabis oil into Thailand via the First Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge. 45 year old Pornpirom Wichit was arrested in Mueang Nong Khai district after 65 bottles of cannabis oil, estimated to be worth around 195,000 baht, were found in his luggage. Nimit Saeng-ampai, head of…
-
Tham Luang caves to be properly explored and mapped
Local and foreign cave experts have been mapping the Tham Luang-Khunnam Nang Non cave, in the Mae Sai district in Chiang Rai, to create the first detailed map of the cave complex. The mapping follows confusion during the rescue, and mentioned last week by Vernon Unsworth, over the exact location where the boys were found. Mr. Chaiporn Siripornpaibul says the project will take about two years and is intended to discover more…
-
Study links Northern and Southern smog with rising cases of respiratory disease
A medical report has pointed to serious health threats from air pollution in Thailand’s smog-prone areas, and the country’s far north north and deep south have been found to be hotspots for asthma and other major respiratory diseases. Higher death rates from three main respiratory diseases – asthma, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – in the northern region highlighted…
-
Northern Thailand suffers whilst officials play the blame game
Excerpts from an article at ttrweekly.com Inflicting immeasurable damage to the health of residents and incalculable losses on the economy and tourism, the northern smog clings to the hilly landscape making a mockery of government assurances that it has the crisis under control. Provincial and district officials appear to be preoccupied with the task of deciding a date when residents…
-
Police seize 2 million meth pills following car chase in Chiang Rai
PHOTO: Facebook/@thaipolice4.0 Police are investigating the source of 2 million methamphetamine pills seized on Friday in Chiang Rai, near the Myanmar border. A man had the 2 million speed pills seized from his pickup truck following a chase in Mae Sai district late Friday. One police officer was injured in the incident. A pick-up was signalled to stop around 11pm on…
-
Netflix and ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ production team announce cave rescue project
PHOTO: Yahoo.com Netflix, the most popular TV streaming service in Thailand, are teaming up with the producers of the hit film “Crazy Rich Asians” for a production about the rescue of the MuPa (Wild Boar) football team from Chiang Rai’s Tham Luang caves last July. The 12 young men and their coach were trapped in a flooded cave after going…
-
Boonrod heads to new home in Khon Kaen
PHOTO: Vitisak Payalaw, Boonrod and Siraphan Ngampromwong of Watchdog Thailand at the Smile Dog House in Hat Yai – Facebook.com Thailand’s pooch-of-the-moment ‘Boonrod’ (meaning ‘survivor’ in Thai) has a new home in Khon Kaen. Definitely Thailand’s most travelled dog, Boonrod was fished out of the water earlier this month when he was spotted swimming aimlessly 220 kilometres off the Songkhla…
-
US Court gives go ahead for Musk to face defamation charges over cave spat
PHOTO: Vernon Unsworth v Elon Musk. by ThaiVisa American tech entrepreneur, investor, and engineer, Elon Musk, is likely to face a lawsuit in the US over defamation after he described a British cave diver as a “pedo guy” on Twitter last year. Musk also described Vernon Unsworth, who was one of the divers who first discovered the Mu Pa football team…
-
Maha Sarakham districts have no water at all, Phuket gets first decent rain for the year
Tap water has run completely dry in six villages in a Maha Sarakham district, right in the middle of Thailand’s north-east Isaan region, in what’s been described as the worst drought in 40 years. Tap-water sources dried up early this year for 689 households in Phayakkhaphum Phisai district and now all other surface and underground water sources have been exhausted…
-
Questions arise over specs of collapsed wall at school in Khon Kaen that killed 4 year old girl
by Kritmet Loho Khon Kaen’s governor Somsak Jangtrakul today led police and related officials to inspect a private school building in Tambon Ban Ped in the main city area. The building had partially collapsed during Monday’s hail and rain storm that hit the are, killing a four year old girl.Somsak revealed that an initial investigation shows the building construction hadn’t…
-
History books will have to rewrite the Tham Luang cave story
“Two British divers have today found the 13 team members perched on the Nerm Nom Sao ledge.” “I promise I will care for the kids as best as possible. I want to say thank you for all the support,” 25 year old Cochairs Ekk wrote in a touching letter, nine days after they were found sitting atop a ledge known as…
-
Elderly mother of murdered Thai woman is seeking help to bring her daughter’s body home
PHOTO: Matichononline The family of a Thai woman murdered in northern Portugal in March is now calling for assistance with the cost of repatriating the body back to Thailand. According to Portuguese media the woman, Natchaya Saranyaphat, was murdered on March 7 by another Thai woman. Natchaya’s head was found on the Leca da Palmeira beach, 300 kilometres north of…
-
Forecast drought will weaken the Thai economy
Thailand suffers calamities at both ends of the annual weather spectrum – both drought and flood. But as the demands on agriculture grow, with a growing population and the rise of tourists and development, the effects of these two extremes are becoming more apparent. Which leads us to this year’s outlook of lower rains which is exposing the poor management…
-
Bus crashes off the road in Khon Kaen
PHOTOS: Pudtayan Banphai Rescue Foundation Many passengers have been injured following a bus crash in Khon Kaen, north-east Thailand this morning. The Pudtayan Banphai Rescue Foundation reports that the bus was traveling from Bangkok to Nongkhai in northeast Thailand. The bus, which was full of passengers, hit a tree and a light pole on the road before ending up on its…
-
Central and upper Thailand residents warned to stay indoors
Thailand’s Meteorological Department is warning people to avoid out-door activities due to the current high temperatures which are forecast to exceed 43C today in several northern provinces. They are also advised to stay clear of big trees, poorly-erected structures or large billboards because of freak summer storms and strong winds caused by a low pressure cell over the northern…
-
Central and north swelter with threats of summer storms
The mercury shot up to 40C in Bangkok yesterday and 35 other provinces in north and north-east Thailand also experienced hot to very hot weather amid brewing summer tropical storms. The Thai Meteorological Department pointed to the hot low pressure cell covering upper Thailand and the southerly and southeasterly winds prevailing over the North, the Northeast, the Central, the East,…
-
Burglar drowns Pomeranian puppy before stealing computer and cash
A 21 year old Udon Thani tertiary student has returned from Songkran to find her Pomeranian puppy drowned in a water bin and her boyfriend’s laptop computer and cash stolen. Muang Udon Thani police were contacted lunchtime yesterday (Tuesday). The dog’s owner was Monthira Anthapanya who told police she had locked the four month old puppy in her rented room while she…
-
PM backs Khao Kwan Foundation in cannabis research
PHOTO: Thai PBS Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is instructing the Public Health Ministry and leading tertiary educators to support the Khao Kwan Foundation in the research and development of cannabis oil for medical purposes. His support is a rebuke of over zealous Narcotics Control Board officials who raided the Foundation last week, seizing the cannabis and extract oils on the…
-
Severe localised storms predicted for central, north and north-east until April 16
FILE PHOTO The meteorological office (TMD) says there could be localised severe thunder storms for the entire upper area of the country until Tuesday. The north, north-east, eastern seaboard and central regions, including Bangkok and surrounding areas could all be randomly hit by tropical thunderstorms. The TMD office director Phuwiang Prakhammin has warned of rain storms, thunder and lightning, high…
-
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.…
-
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.
-
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…
-
Motorcyclist survives being run over at traffic light in Nakhon Nayok – VIDEO
VIDEO: Baan Na Police A motorbike driver has survived after a truck trailer ran over him and his motorbike at traffic lights in Nakhon Nayok, just north-east of Bangkok, yesterday. Daily News reports that the motorbike driver had stopped at the traffic light, waling just in front of the truck. The truck driver apparently was unable to see the motorbike.…
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.