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.
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From Moto GP to Weed Fest, Buriram leads the way
PHOTO: A Pan Ram supporter can’t wait for the ‘cannabis festival’ next month in Buriram province – Khaosod English They pulled off the MotoGP event with flair and great organisation. Now Buriram is bracing for a very different crowd heading for the next big event. Taking advantage of the new liberalisation of laws governing marijuana and cannabis, the north-east festival…
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Chiang Rai motorcyclist flees police leaving behind a bag with 200,000 meth pills
FILE PHOTO 200,000 methamphetamine pills have been seized following a road chase in Chiang Rai’s Thoeng district but, again, the suspect managed to flee. A unit of rangers from the 31st Ranger Taskforce staked out at a bypass road along the Thai-Lao border in Ban Khun Huay Krai village. They say they spotted a speeding motorcycle at 9.30pm last night…
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Netflix scores production coup with major documentary about cave rescue
The world’s leading TV streaming service ‘Netflix’ is bringing the drama of the Tham Luang cave rescue to the small screen. The 13 young football players will net around 3 million baht each, with other monies going to other volunteer services and foundations. The international rescue of the 13 young footballers, who were trapped for nearly two weeks in a…
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Where there’s fire, there’s smoke – Lampang mountains
Adding to the air pollution woes of the north, bushfires have been keeping state firefighters and volunteers busy trying to control the outbreaks in the mountains east of Chiang Mai and north of Lampang. The efforts yesterday were to battle a front of multiple fires in Doi Phra Baht forest in Lampang’s Muang district. Fires have been erupting in multiple…
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Tham Luang cave diver John Volanthen awarded medal by Queen Elizabeth
PHOTO: Evening Standard One of the cave divers who helped to rescue the 13 Thai footballers has been awarded the George Medal by Queen Elizabeth II for showing “great courage”. John Volanthen was honoured in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London. Diver John Volanthen and his colleague Richard Stanton were the first to find the stranded team, which led to…
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74 year old German arrested for alleged murder of teenage Thai wife in 2010
A 74 year old German, accused of stabbing his much younger wife to death, has been arrested after nine years on the run. Siam Rath reports that Heinz Jurgen Theil has been arrested in Chiang Rai province and is now in custody, charged with murder. Police say Theil is accused of stabbing his 17 year old wife, Janjira Jantapool, in…
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National Geographic tries to secure rights to produce Tham Luang rescue doco
National Geographic has made top level contact with the government-appointed Creative Media Committee to negotiate shooting a documentary about last July’s dramatic rescue operation at the Tham Luang caves in Chiang Rai. British diver Rick Stanton, who was actively involved in the complicated rescue operation to save the 13 young Mu Pa footballers, says that the British cave diving team wrote a letter to the…
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Air quality in 9 northern provinces worse in March-April
Smog problems in nine of Thailand’s northern provinces is forecast to get worse during the next two months due to forest fires. This is despite a complete ban on the open burning of vegetation or trash. Chongklai Worapongsathorn, deputy director-general of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plants Conservation spoke to local fire fighters before they are sent to…
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Rain-making efforts will continue until end of month in Khon Kaen
The Northeastern Royal Rainmaking Operation Centre is extending the royal rainmaking operation period, as part of air pollution reduction efforts, until the end of February. The Director of the Northeastern Royal Rainmaking Operation Centre, Wassana Wongrat, says the Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation set up a rapid deployment unit to conduct royal rainmaking operations to improve the air…
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19 year old mother slashes three year old son’s throat in Yasothon
WARNING: This story may be shocking to some readers PHOTO: Sanook A 19 year old mother has used a kitchen knife to slash the throat of her three year old son in Yasothon in Thailand’s north-east. Thairath reports that Yasothon Police were notified of the incident at the woman’s lodgings last night at 7 pm. Police and rescue workers arrived…
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Thailand will swelter through searing temperatures this summer
Temperatures in Thailand this summer is forecast to be 1-2 degrees Celsius warmer than last year. The announcement comes from the Thai Meteorological Department director-general Phuwiang Prakammin. And it’s predicted to hit 42-43C in seven provinces in northern Thailand. In Thailand summer, as a regional season, is listed as running between February 21 to mid-May. Phuwiang says daytime temperatures in…
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Usable water level in Khon Kaen’s main dam dangerously low
One of the north-east’s largest dams is running dry. And the dry season has just begun. About a year ago, Khon Kaen irrigation officials were discharging excess water through Ubol Ratana Dam (pronounced Ubonrat) to increase reservoir capacity to ease flood problems in Thailand’s northeastern province of Khon Kaen. Now, the same officials are urging people in the province to…
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Air pollution: Cabinet asked to allocate 6 billion baht to help buy sugarcane harvesters
Thailand’s Finance Ministry was asking cabinet for approval of a 6 billion baht budget to help the government tackle the northern and north-eastern smog and air-pollution problems. The funds would be distributed by the state-run Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives to help farmer cooperatives and farming communities to buy sugarcane harvesting machines. BAAC manager Mr. Apirom Sookprasert says that…
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Tham Luang caves closing for retrieval of all rescue equipment
Chiang Rai’s Tham Luang caves, the scene of the international cave rescue last July, will close to all visitors from February 19 to allow Thai Navy SEALs to enter and recover equipment left in the cave after the rescue mission. The mission, which captured the attention of media around the world and changed the young men’s lives forever, extracted 13…
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Uighur escapees captured and back in Mukdahan jail
Seven undocumented Uighurs, who escaped from an immigration facility in northeast Mukdahan, on the Laos border in far north-east Thailand last week, have been recaptured. Pol Colonel Sith Sirikangwalkul, the acting Immigration chief for the region, says that one was recaptured on Tuesday (February 12), the same night everyone escaped, and two more were found in a forest two kilometres away…
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UPDATE: Kalasin shooting. Husband dies after shooting.
A Kalasin private school executive, shot in the head after a Valentine’s Day fight with his wife, has died in hospital as a result of his injuries. The death of 45 year old Ratthasart Panichpongsapak has prompted police to file a murder charge against the man’s 44 year old wife Mayura Panichpongsapak. Mayura was initially charged with attempted murder and…
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Missing Chiang Rai mother found safe in Kunming after 8 months
A missing 59 year old Thai woman, reportedly suffering from Alzheimers, has been found in Kunming, China’s Yunnan province, about 700 kilometres from her home in Thailand. She was reported missing from the northern province of Chiang Rai eight months ago. Kunming police found the woman, Kaewmanee Arjor, walking alone on a highway and alerted Thai officials in the Chinese…
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Motorbike driver dies after his head crushed in Udon Thani, truck driver flees
A motorbike driver has died after his head was crushed by a truck and trailer yesterday. The trailer diver fled the scene in Udon Thani. The accident occurred in Kudjab Road in Mueang Udon Thani, North East of Thailand. Police and emergency responders arrived to find the body of Thai man, later identified as 39 years old Sutin Ngonchalee. Nearby…
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Up up and away – getting married aloft in Chiang Rai
PHOTOS: The Nation Twenty couples, Thais and foreign, have taken their vows and married aloft hot-air balloons over Chiang Rai today. Among the lovebirds were actor Danai Jarujinda and his fiance Phraewwanich Kijthawornsawat, who decided to tie the knot after 11 years together. “Balloon Love” is held at Singha Park Chiang Rai Balloon Fiesta, which runs from February 13-17. The…
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Khon Kaen faces its second week of crippling air pollution
The north-eastern hub of Khon Kaen heads into a new week still struggling with heavy air pollution that has persisted over the past week. The Air Quality Index peaked at 206 yesterday. All the readings in the region were well beyond safe limits. Smoke haze has also enveloped the main city, Chum Phae, Mancha Khiri, Kranuan, Ubol Rattana and Phra…
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Warning: Massage can be dangerous for pregnant women – Health ministry
Massage can be dangerous for women at different stages of their pregnancy. The warning was issued by the Public Health Ministry after a woman suffered a miscarriage and went into a coma after getting a foot massage in the Chiang Mai province. “Women who are less than three months into their pregnancy should avoid massage because it may lead to…
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Air pollution problems move to Khon Kaen
Pollution continues to choke the north-east province of Khon Kaen with the Air Quality Index reaching 187 yesterday, well beyond the “moderate” safety limit of 100. This morning it’s reading at 174. Associate Professor Dr Kittichai Triratanasirichai, a former president of Khon Kaen University, says the pollution in Khon Kaen had worsened mainly due to the burning of sugarcane and…
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Thai and Burmese authorities detain 81 in search for drug gang
by Natthawat Laping “Is wanted Thai drug trafficker 30 year old Pannawit Pathum among the group?” Burmese authorities have conducted raids at entertainment venues, hotels, resorts and residential communities near the Thai-Myannar border opposite Chiang Rai’s Mae Fah Luang district and rounded up 81 Thai nationals who had illegally entered the country. Chiang Rai Immigration superintendent Pol Colonel Ekkorn Busababodin…
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Nan blossoms in pink splendour
Tourists are flocking to the far northern province of Nan, on the Laos border, this weekend to witness the beauty of wild Himalayan cherry tree blossoms, widely known as “Thai sakura”, at a research station in Nanoi district. Kanyarat Natebutr, chief of Tonnam Kunsatan research station said that the areas around the station, where cherry trees, green maple and macadamia…
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Chiang Rai pick-up driver arrested with 4 million meth pills in the back
A man has been arrested in Chiang Rai with 4 million methamphetamine pills stacked into the back of his pick-up. The 27 year old is alleged to have smuggled from a border spot. Acting on a tip-off, the Chiang Rai-based narcotics suppression police spotted a pick-up truck parked at a shophouse on Phaholyothin road in Moo 4 village in Wiang…
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Troops intercept pickup with 2.85 million meth pills – one smuggler killed
A shootout with Army troops has resulted in the death of a drug suspect while attempting to smuggle 2.8 million methamphetamine pills into Thailand from neighbouring Myanmar. Troops from the Pha Muang Taskforce were patrolling a border road in Chiang Rai’s Chiang Saen district, in the far north of Thailand, when they spotted the pickup truck at about 10.40pm. Ttroops…
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Aussie cave divers given top honours for their role in last year’s Tham Luang rescue
PHOTO: Richard Harris and Craig Challen along with Australian PM Scott Morrison Cave rescue divers Dr. Richard Harris and Craig Challen have been jointly named Australian of the Year for their heroic efforts helping to save 13 young footballers from a flooded cave in Chiang Rai. In July 2018, Adelaide anaesthetist Dr Harris and retired vet Dr Challen, from Perth, made…
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Thai cave rescuers announced as the Australians of the Year 2019
Craig Challen and Richard Harris have been awarded as the 2019 Australian of the Year for their contribution the Thailand cave rescue mission. They were part of the international contingent of skilled divers that brought expertise to the team that were able to figure out a way to safely extract the 13 members of the Mu Pa football team in…
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‘The Cave’ due out mid year – First cave rescue film to reach cinemas
PHOTO: Thai-born director Tom Waller on location during the filming of “The Cave” in central Thailand – AFP A Thai-born director, Tom Waller, who reportedly took only a few weeks to shoot the first film about the dramatic Tham Luang cave rescue of the Mu Pa football team in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district, says his focus was on authenticity…
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Cave divers reunite to retrieve equipment at Tham Luang caves
Divers involved in last July’s rescue of the 13 young Mu Pa footballers from the flooded Tham Luang caves in Chiang Rai, are to reunite to retrieve around 100 tonnes of equipment left behind from the rescue. The Thai navy SEALs and Finnish diver Mikko Paasi re-united this week for the first time since July 2018 when the last members…
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