News
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Sponsored Pullman Phuket Panwa Beach Resort puts sustainability at its heart
The term sustainability is often thrown around as a buzzword in the hospitality industry, but at Pullman Phuket Panwa Beach Resort, it’s genuinely part of their mission. Located in Makham Bay, just south of Phuket Town, the beautiful resort puts...
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Three rescued after boat sinks off Phuket, 6 still missing
PHUKET: A Royal Thai Navy search and rescue team this morning plucked four men from stormy seas after their fishing boat sank about two nautical miles off Promthep Cape. One of the men was pronounced dead on arrival. Six other crew members are still missing. The Third Naval Area Command responded to a call at 9:20pm yesterday from a person…
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Mazda blows up in Krabi dentist’s driveway
KRABI: The driver of a Mazda 2 escaped serious injury last night when her three-year-old hatchback burst into flames as she pulled into her driveway. Nattira Phumchat, 27, a dentist at Krabi Hospital, was arriving home from the market in Krabi Town at around 8pm, when smoke began billowing out from under the car’s hood. “I stopped the car and…
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Rewards for would-be Patong bombing suspect
PHUKET: Another explosive device was found in Patong yesterday, police confirmed. A phone-based explosive device was found in China Town Plaza, near where a security guard recovered a similar device on August 10. The device’s recovery comes in the wake of bombings across Thailand’s south this weekend, that killed four and left more than 30 injured. Phuket Provincial Police released…
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Light rail plans approved for submission to ministry
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada met with private and public sector officials at Phuket Provincial Hall today, where the multi-billion-baht light rail project plans were finally agreed upon. The news comes in the wake of a push by Governor Chamroen earlier this month, when he called on the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTP) in Bangkok to…
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Opinion: Making Patong safer for locals and tourists
PHUKET: Col Chaiwat Auikam, originally from Saraburi, is currently the superintendent of Patong Police Station. He assumed the role two years ago. Col Chaiwat has been working as a policeman for more than 27 years. He graduated from the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School and Royal Police Cadet Academy. Here, he talks about the current project to improve safety measures,…
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Island View: Burmese border visa run by car
PHUKET: Being relatively close to Phuket (about 350km), the Burmese border is a destination of choice for visa runs and can be done by car in a day. When you drive yourself, you can stop and snack or stretch out whenever you want, or even spend some time at one of the many beaches along the coast as you pass…
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Russian loses life in red flag swim at Karon Beach
PHUKET: A Russian man was pronounced dead shortly after lifeguards at Karon Beach pulled his unconscious body from the surf yesterday morning. Lifeguards reported that the 50-year-old man entered the water in the red flag (no-swimming) zone at the beach and disappeared in the surf about 11am. “It took awhile for the lifeguards to locate the man after he went…
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TMD issues storm warning for Andaman region
PHUKET: The Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) this morning issued a storm warning for the Andaman region as monsoon rains continue to batter the southern provinces and the Gulf of Thailand. All ships should proceed with caution and small boats stay ashore until August 18, as strong wind whips up 2-3 meter high waves in the Andaman Sea and the upper…
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Update: Security stepped up nationwide after bombings
PHUKET: In a statement issued this morning, Phuket Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada said has ordered additional security personnel to be deployed across the island, in the wake of two blasts in Patong this morning. The governor’s comments come after a meeting with military and police advisers at Phuket Provincial Hall. The province was put on ‘high alert’ yesterday, after a bomb…
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Blasts in Patong, across south, kill 3, injure dozens
PHUKET: Eleven explosions have rocked southern Thailand in less than 24 hours, including two blasts in Patong (story here). Explosions in Trang, Hua Hin and Surat Thani provinces have left three dead and more than 30 wounded. The blasts began yesterday in Trang, where an explosion killed one and injured seven others while vendors were setting up stalls in a…
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Patong hit by double bomb blasts during Mother’s Day ceremonies
PHUKET: Two bomb blasts in Patong this morning have left one man injured. One of the blasts occurred at the Bangla Police Box at 8am. The other explosion was a short while later at Loma Park, where provincial officials were conducting Mother’s Day ceremonies, Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation officer Sampawat Wannasangkam told the Gazette. The streets around the…
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Governor urges calm in wake of Trang bombing
PHUKET: The Phuket governor has put the province on high alert in the wake of last night’s bomb scare in Patong and this afternoon’s bombing in Trang. At least eight people were injured after a bomb exploded at a walking street market in downtown Trang city today. The blast occurred while vendors were setting up their stalls along Ruenrom Road,…
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Bomb wounds eight in downtown Trang
TRANG: At least eight people were injured after a bomb exploded at a walking street market in downtown Trang city today. The blast occurred while vendors were setting up their stalls along Ruenrom Road, on the same street as the Trang Provincial Justice Office, less than a block away from City Hall. Police have cordoned off the area, and are…
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Finance: Hold on to stocks, more rallies are coming
PHUKET: The past one and a half years have been anything but a smooth ride for investors, given that the market’s seen two rapid 10 to 15 per cent pullbacks, and we’ve seen entire sectors (such as biotech, oil, industrials) and so on take some hard knocks. For investors exposed to unlucky sectors, it’s been difficult to keep pace with…
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Ministry of Farang Affairs: Right way to hail a taxi
The Ministry of Farang Affairs is a one-stop shop where foreigners in Thailand can learn all they need to know about living here. No, we’re not talking about work permits, visas or taxes. We’re talking about day-to-day life in the Land of Endless Shocks and Riddles, of Blur, Befuddlement and the Bizarre. Stay tuned for weekly insights from Minister Stephff.…
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Opinion: The promised land of a functional democracy
PHUKET: The passage of the national referendum on the proposed constitution last weekend indicates a national desire to get back on track and resume the effort to develop a more civil society, even if it means once again placing trust in the military as the shepherd to lead us to the promised land of a truly functional democracy. Results differed…
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Double bomb scare in Patong turns up duds
PHUKET: Frightened locals alerted police of two suspicious, possibly explosive objects found in Patong last night. “We received reports of suspicious objects placed in two spots – one in China Town on Soi Sai Nam Yen road, and the second on Sai 2 Road in front of a nearby hotel. We ordered Patong Police officers to look into the matter,”…
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Rajabhat University to host ‘Science Week 2016’
PHUKET: Rajabhat University is inviting the public to visit its Phuket campus for ‘Science Week 2016’, which runs August 17-19. The annual exposition of the university’s science education facilities is part of an initiative sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology to motivate interest in science subjects. University students are putting on demonstrations of the institution’s science tech in…
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Park Chief praises Chinese woman’s viral video
PHUKET: The Chief of Koh Phi Phi National Park said he was impressed after watching a video in which one Chinese tourist lambasts another for trying to drag driftwood off Ao Nang Beach. Translated versions of the video (which can be seen here) went viral and are being shared by media outlets across the region and throughout China. The woman,…
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One dead in stabbing incident on Bypass Road
PHUKET: Phuket City Police are searching for two unidentified men, believed to be Myanmar nationals, who stabbed another Burmese man to death on his first day of work at a wood factory on the bypass road last night. The police received reports of the stabbing from staff at the factory at about 7pm. “Ar Naing, 42, was sprawled face-up over…
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Foreign tourist apologizes for visiting temple in sexy dress
PHUKET: A tourist who wore a see-through dress while visiting a temple in Chalong apologized yesterday after pictures of her outfit were shared on social media. Tourist police ‘invited’ the foreigner, her tour guide and a representative of a tour company to apologize at a police station in Phuket Town. Also present at the station was a representative of the…
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Migrant worker registration deadline pushed forward, again
PHUKET: The deadline for illegal migrant workers to register in Phuket has been extended until the end of August, officials confirmed yesterday. According to the original schedule, the registration was to have finished by the end of July (story here). Launched in April, the registration campaign is part of a nationwide push to legalize unregistered migrants from Myanmar, Cambodia and…
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Chinese tourist run over, killed, in front of wife and kids
PHUKET: A father of two on holiday with his family was run over by a car and killed in front of his wife and children while crossing Thepkassattri Road during a stop-off to shop at 7-Eleven late last night. The 54-year-old man, identified as Shengbin Lu, was part of a group of Chinese tourists on their way to Phuket Airport…
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Cash reward offered to find missing Phuket man
PHUKET: The daughter of an 80-year-old man who allegedly disappeared from a hotel in Patong in the early hours of August 3 has appealed for help locating her father. Kanjana Danaisuthikul and her husband Praditsakan Danaisuthikul filed a missing person report with Patong Police the same day but after not hearing anything for almost a week, the couple yesterday went…
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Phuketians say ‘yes’ to Thailand’s draft charter
PHUKET: More than half of Phuket’s eligible voters turned out to cast their ballots yesterday over the draft constitution referendum, Phuket Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada told the Phuket Gazette today. Almost 90 per cent of the 150,326 voters in the province voted to accept the proposed draft constitution. Provincial Election Commission officials said they had hoped for an 80 per cent…
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Man dies after jumping off Sarasin Bridge
PHUKET: A 51 year-old man died after he and a 15 year-old girl jumped off the Sarasin Bridge at about 7pm yesterday. The Thai pair, who police believe to have been father and daughter, were rescued by fishermen passing by on a boat. Police said that the man, named as Ruab Duangjan, was unconscious at the time of his rescue,…
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Opinion: Tracking tourists for ‘national security’
PHUKET: An online forum recently published an article titled ‘NBTC to propose special SIM cards for foreign tourists so they can be traced’. The article states that the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) intends to introduce ‘special’ SIM cards for mobile users, in order to ‘track’ foreigners while they are staying in Thailand. The news is worrying on so…
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Police arrest bag-snatching brothers, recover stolen items
PHUKET: Phuket City Police on Saturday night captured robbers who stole a bag from a Slovakian tourist at Phuket Downtown Fresh Market on Friday. Riding a motorbike, the robbers snatched a bag from Domonkoso Vaniko, 28, after pulling up beside her. It was initially believed that the suspects threatened their victim with a small hammer. However, it was revealed following…
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Nocturnal fly tippers trash Krabi mangrove
KRABI: Officials are taking on a fly tipping complaint that has been riding the social media airwaves for about a week. In the online post, locals and tourists complained about a mangrove forest at Noppharat Thara – Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park, publicly asking for help from officers in charge of the area. The trash was located in front…
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Youths wreak havoc, destroy property at juvenile center
PHUKET: A group of 35 juvenile delinquents, including at least one charged for involvement in the Thalang riot last October, wreaked havoc at the Phuket Juvenile Observation and Protection Center (JOPC) at Saphan Hin yesterday afternoon. Phuket City Police was called in to control the situation by JOPC Director Rawee Kuhapimook. “The group grabbed hold of fire extinguishers and sprayed…
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