News
Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond. The Thaiger delivers the latest national news that matters.
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The 5 most common travel emergencies in Thailand and how to be prepared
Thailand is a popular destination known for its dynamic culture, stunning beaches, and bustling cities however, travellers can face unexpected travel emergencies that include medical issues, road accidents, petty theft, and natural disasters. To ensure a safe and enjoyable trip,...
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Body found 500 metres offshore from Saphan Hin, Phuket
A man’s body was found today floating in the sea behind the canals near Wat Sansuk near Saphan Hin. At this stage police are unsure who the person is or what was the cause of his death. There was no ID found on the man when he was discovered. Local villagers spotted the body earlier and alerted police. Foundation volunteers…
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Big increases in BKK airport arrivals for 2018 Songkran
Nearly 7 percent additional passengers flew into Suvarnabhumi Airport and 12 percent into Don Mueang this year to celebrate the Songkran festival, compared to last year’s passenger traffic. The Immigration Bureau deputy spokesman Pol Colonel Choengron Rimpadee says that 683,260 passengers arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport from April 12 and 16. “The number marks a 6.96 per cent increase from Songkran 2017.…
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National weather alert
The Thai Meteorological Department is warning people in all regions, including Bangkok, against summer thunderstorms during the period April 24-27. The TMD has issued warnings saying that in the period April 24-27, a high pressure system from China will extend to cover upper Thailand and meet with hot weather conditions over Thailand, causing summer thunderstorms. Outbreaks of thunderstorm, thunderbolts and…
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Krabi drug suspect killed in police shootout
FILE PHOTO A drug suspect has been shot dead late last night (Saturday) in a shootout with police in Krabi province. Police identified the suspect as 38 year old Suriya Thokong who had walked out of jail just two years ago after serving a jail term related to drug charges. An ongoing investigation suggested that Suriya may have returned to…
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Thailand for the Trump/Kim Summit. Why not?
US President Donald Trump and North Korea premier and dear leader Kim Jong-un are going to have an historic summit. But they need somewhere to meet – somewhere neutral, somewhere safe, somewhere where there’s good food, somewhere both parties will agree to. Trump/Kim Issue #1 – Where to hold the meeting. Now Thailand’s Deputy PM Gen Prawit Wongsuwon has stepped up…
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Reform committee might go for complete rewrite of National Police Bill
Thailand’s police are under the spotlight. Along with many other aspects of long-existing work cultures, the Thai police culture is now coming under scrutiny from both ends – the NCPO who want real change and opposition forces who see the Thai police as facilitators of much of the country’s corruption problems. The country’s law reform committee has been tackling the…
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Government donates money to the family of Chinese road accident victim
Phuket’s Governor, Norapat Plodthong together with the Vice Governor, Sanit Srivihok, have passed on a grant of 50,000 Baht to the father of the Chinese man, Li Jing, who died as a result of injuries from a road accident on the Kamala – Patong route on April 14. He was one of two people dying in Phuket from road related…
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Two cars scratched for parking at ‘VIP’ parking at Phuket airport
A Facebook user named Jingabell Thunramon posted pictures of two cars with a long scratch, one of them had a handwritten note saying ‘Thank you for parking right at P1 VIP’. The Facebook user described that the first car belongs to her friend who parked on the 5th floor of the parking building. The car was scratched on the day…
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5 people dead following storms in 36 provinces
5 people are dead and 3,758 homes in 36 provinces have been damaged by storms over the past week. The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department director-general Chayapol Thitisak reported on the damage yesterday. He reported that relief aid, including home repair assistance and distribution of relief bags has been provided by Army, local administrative officials and related agencies. 655 villages…
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How many Thai durians can Alibaba sell in one minute?
Thai durian sold like hot cakes after Jack Ma showed the magic of e-commerce during his visit to Thailand by selling 80,000 golden pillow durians on his online platform T-mall within one minute. One minute! While Ma was in Thailand to make a mega-deal on investment on Thursday, Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong gifted the founder of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba…
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2 killed, 30 injured in Nakhon Sawan bus accident
PHOTOS: Facebook/NSN.Rescue Songkran might be over but the carnage continues. Two passengers have been killed and an estimated 30 have been injured. Five are reported to be in serious condition. The tour bus from Mae Sot heading for for Bangkok skidded off the road and plunged into a roadside ditch in Nakhon Sawan early yesterday (Friday). Rescue workers pulled all…
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Did ‘The Beach’ vandalise the beach at Maya Bay?
A judgment is expected to be handed down in July after the Civil Court’s environmental division has finished hearing evidence from the Thai plaintiff and the US defendant over the controversial filming of Hollywood movie The Beach. The film starred Leonardo DiCaprio and was partly filmed at Krabi’s Maya Bay in 1998. (Phuket’s On On Hotel was used as the…
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The Brunei woman who drowned in Krabi is not from Brunei’s Royal Family
The 60 year old woman from Brunei, PG HJH Jamilah PG HJ Othman, who drowned near Gai Island in Krabi (story HERE) was reported as being a member of Brunei’s Royal Family. Since that report the Royal Thai Police’s deputy spokesman Pol Col Krissana Pattanacharoen clarified that the woman was not member of the royal family of Brunei Darussalam as…
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Four bull sharks sighted off beach south of Hua Hin
Four bull sharks have been sighted in the sea near Khao Tao, near Wat Tham Khao Tao, about ten kilometres south of Hua Hin, by authorities conducting searches with patrol boats and drones. Thipamas Upnoi, the director of the Marine and Coastal Resources and Development Centre at the Central Gulf of Thailand says the operation started yesterday and has so…
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4 Men arrested with more than 1,400 amphetamine pills in Kathu
As part of the Phuket police crackdown on drugs on the island, Kathu police have arrested 4 drug dealers with more than 1,400 methamphetamine pills. The first man arrested was 34 year old Isara Plaikaew with 4 amphetamine pills. He was arrested in Soi Petch Lohlien on April 17. The following men were arrested in the same house in Soi…
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The ‘dirty’ coffee from Vietnam contains manganese dioxide
PHOTO: Dak Nong Police Further to yesterday’s revelation about fake coffee being manufactured and sold from a make-shift factory in Vietnam, this analysis from a Chemist at the Vietnam National University. Associate Professor Tran Hong Con, a chemistry expert from the Vietnam National University, says the black substance found in D batteries is a toxic chemical called manganese dioxide. Manganese dioxide…
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Officials seize 12 tonnes of fake ‘coffee’ laced with hazardous materials
Here’s something to contemplate next time you’re about to enjoy your next caffeine-fix. Vietnam’s Tuoi Tre News daily newspaper is reporting that a family-run coffee producer in Vietnam’s Dak Nong province has been caught manufacturing coffee laced with harmful ingredients from used batteries, dirt and rock dust and black dye. Vietnamese authorities say they seized about 12 tonnes of dangerous…
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Krabi wedding parade carries 2 million baht dowry
A parade of 6 trucks and trailers to celebrate the wedding of a local couple in Lamtab District, Krabi, drew a lot of attention from people in the area. The groom is 32 year old Tharapong Srisuk, who is a former sub-district chief and the bride is 27 year old Pitchaya Boonmuang. The trailers decorated with flowers carried the groom,…
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Private investors being wooed over planned marina for Samui
Samui is looking to establish the island’s first marina and is currently looking to investors for the project in the Gulf of Thailand. Asia Pacific Superyachts reports that Koh Samui has succeeded in attracting international five-star brands, a strong luxury villas market as well as quality golf courses. The report says that superyacht sailors are now coming to the region…
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Police make two arrests over travel scams
The owner of a Thai tour company has been arrested for deceiving 33 tourists left abandoned in Osaka, Japan last February. Tourist Police deputy chief Pol Maj Gen Surachet Hakpal says that 35 year old Sonthaya Phosri had been arrested the day before under a warrant issued by the Thonburi district court. He was charged with cheating 33 Thai tourists…
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Big drug crackdown in Thalang
Thalang police have arrested a local drug dealer, 24 year old Saowarak ‘Tah’ Oamsin, with 4,548 amphetamine pills and 136.55 grams of crystal methamphetamine. She was arrested in a house in Paklok after police received a report from undercover officers in the area that she was selling drugs to local juveniles regularly. At the house, police found the drugs, a…
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Soi Dog mobile clinic at Nai Harn Lake
Rawai’s Mayor visited Soi Dog’s Phuket mobile clinic at Nai Harn Lake Park today (April 18) to observe the work and progress of sterilisation and vaccination programs for the area. The mobile unit has been operating since April 9 until April 27 and it’s still not too late to bring your dogs and cats to be sterilised and vaccinated at…
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Close the beach, put up signs. Hua Hin tackles a one-in-2-million chance.
Shark prevention measures will be introduced in the resort town of Hua Hin after a Norwegian tourist was bitten by a bull shark, even though a marine biologist says there was only a one-in-2-million chance of someone being attacked by a shark. Prachuap Khiri Khan’s deputy governor Chotnarin Kerdsom has confirmed what experts have already validated – a Norwegian tourist…
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66 more foreigners arrested in nationwide crackdown
FILE PHOTO: The Nation Tourist police have arrested 66 more foreigners during crackdowns around the country last night (Wednesday). Pol Maj-General Surachet Hakpal, deputy tourist police chief spoke whilst in Soi Cowboy off Sukhumvit Road early this morning to announce the results of the operation. He said 11 foreigners were arrested for overstaying their visas and 51 others for unlawfully…
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PM appoints two new ex-politicians as advisors
The PM is starting to surround himself with more politicians and fewer Army people in the lead up next year’s planned election. The PM, who has always described himself as ‘not a politician’, is showing all the signs of strategically aligning himself with the right people to make him a choice as ‘outside PM’ should the new lower house not…
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2018 Songkran road toll total up on last year
This year’s Songkran “Seven Dangerous Days counted an appalling toll of 418 people dying on Thailand’s roads compared to last year’s 390. The figures were recorded by the Road Safety Centre said yesterday. The figures follow an ‘all out’ attempt by the Government and police to reduce the carnage on Thai roads over the Songkran break. This year also saw a…
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Pervert cameraman scares woman in Krabi
A 37 year old woman, Parinda Asapa, contacted Ao Nang Police after she discovered a man taking a video of her taking a shower. She said that she lives in a rented flat in Ao Nang and at about 10.15 pm last night (April 17), she was taking a shower and noticed a man standing behind the wall of the…
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Passenger nearly gets sucked out of broken Southwest Airlines 737 window
A Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 took off from LaGuardia Airport at 10:27am and landed in Philadelphia about 11:23am. The Boeing 737 was heading to Dallas with 144 passengers and five crew members. For the first 20 minutes, everything seemed calm. Then “a loud boom” suddenly jolted the plane according to passenger Marty Martinez. In what appears to be a turbine blade…
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Rassada phone robbers arrested – 31 phones recovered
The two phone shop robbers have been arrested today (April 18) after robbing more than 60 phones. The phone shop in Rassada named ‘No.1’ was robbed on April 10 by 38 year old Chok-Anan Chaisongkram and his brother-in-law, Leng Permthong. They got in through the ceiling of the shop and removed the server of a CCTV camera. However, one of…
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Songkran’s colour splash man arrested
A construction worker, 29 year old Payak Samniangmai, who works in the nearby area where the cars were splashed with acrylic paint on April 13, has been arrested today (April 18). There were a total of 9 cars splattered with the hard-to-remove colour paint. Original story HERE. Most of the victims mentioned that their cars got the colour paint throw…
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