News
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118mn baht mega-transportation study underway
PHUKET: A feasibility study costing 118 million baht is underway for an ambitious transportation project to link Phuket with neighboring provinces. The project aims to connect the island to the national north-south rail line and provide public transport between Phuket International Airport and Chalong Circle. Though the current study was expected to start by the end of 2012, the contract…
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Balloon vendor dead on arrival at Phuket bus terminal
PHUKET: A festival balloon vendor was found dead on arrival at Phuket Bus Terminal 2 in the early morning hours today.Prasan Piyawong, 66, was discovered dead on the top deck of a tour bus by a friend who was travelling with him.Police and rescue works sped to the scene after being notified of the incident at about 4:30am today.“Mr Prasan’s…
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Krabi ready to take the plunge
PHUKET: Is throwing yourself off an 8-storey-high cliff a good idea? Sure it is! Especially to the brave contenders of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series. If you wish to see these daredevils, the season finale will take place in Krabi, a few hours drive from Phuket, on Saturday, October 26. Ten of the world’s best cliff divers launch…
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Rayong all but secure promotion at Phuket’s expense
PHUKET: Despite drawing first blood in a difficult away fixture on Saturday evening, Phuket FC went on to lose 3-2 to Thailand’s Yamaha League One (YL1) powerhouse, PTT Rayong. The match, both side’s 32nd of 34 scheduled fixtures in the YL1 2013 season, was played in front of 3,669 spectators at PTT Stadium on the lower part of Thailand’s Eastern…
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Zero tolerance for ‘zero dollar’ tours
The governments of Thailand and China are working hand-in-hand to limit the number of tourists coming from the latter to the former, especially the “low-quality” ones, the [former] head of Phuket’s official tourism office recently announced. Reinforcing Thailand’s efforts to shift focus from quantity to quality tourist markets, the Chinese government since October 1 has been enforcing new regulations affecting…
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Krabi carp monster set to break world record
PHUKET: A British angler on holiday in Thailand is set to break a world record after landing a 60.9kg (134.4lb) Siamese carp in Krabi, across Phang Nga Bay from Phuket, earlier this month.Keith Williams, of Carshalton in Surrey, England, landed the monster carp on October 10 while on holiday with friends at the Gillhams Fishing Resort to celebrate his 56th…
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Phuket Property Watch: Lost in Chiang Mai
PHUKET: I’ve always had an aversion to things that go bump in the night, but as our Thai Smile jet ramps up to 33,000 feet, an extended period of turbulence has left my forehead battered, but not bruised. Yes, the flight attendants shock orange uniforms put me into a Halloween mood, yet they move about the cabin like apparitions –…
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Fire engulfs shop units at Karon Plaza
PHUKET: Police are investigating the cause of a fire on the Karon beach road that engulfed seven shop units at the Karon Plaza shopping bazaar early on Saturday.Three firetrucks from Karon Municipality were called in just before 6am to contain the blaze, which took 30 minutes to extinguish.“The plaza sells fashion items, such as clothes and shoes, and many other…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Monster rally to target Thaksin; Pattaya rubble beach revamp; Olympic shooter gunned down
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Plan for huge rally against amnesty bill Thye Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: A massive rally is apparently in the making now as several groups have expressed the shared goal of fighting any move to “whitewash” former PM Thaksin Shinawatra to the bitter end.The Democrat Party has also…
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Safety net for Phuket SuperCheap staff after blaze
PHUKET: Employees of the razed SuperCheap store may continue working or resign and receive unemployment compensation, it was announced in Phuket on Thursday. The 3,436 employees, 700 of whom are foreign workers, will be sent to other branches to work, said SuperCheap Owner Boonsom Anantajaroonwong. “We continue to pay about a total of a million baht a day to staff…
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18-year-old Phuket cashier still missing after SuperCheap inferno
PHUKET: An 18-year-old Phuket cashier and one other woman are still missing after the SuperCheap megastore burned to the ground on Wednesday night (story here). Eleven formal missing person complaints have been filed since the blaze. “So far, 10 of the ‘missing people’ have been found. The only person who remains on our list is Thanaporn Sammanit, 46. The complaint…
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Phuket Police believe shooting linked to teasing
PHUKET: Police are searching for the gang responsible for a drive-by shooting that left a man in Rassada injured last night.Anupol Noochua, 31, was shot in the leg in front of his house at about 10pm. Mr Anupol told police that at about 7pm last night, while he was sitting outside drinking with friends, a young woman rode by on…
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Police probe Phuket fisherman’s death
PHUKET: Police are investigating the cause of death of a Myanmar national whose body was found floating in the water off Rassada yesterday afternoon.Bystanders told police that the man, who police did not name, had been drinking on a boat with friends on Thursday night when he walked to the back to relieve himself, said Somchai Nhuboon of Phuket City…
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Phuket Sports: Get ready Karon – FIVB is coming
PHUKET: This year’s Phuket Thailand Open powered by PTT, the penultimate event of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, sees Brazil, Germany, Thailand and the USA with three teams apiece in the main draw. Italy has two teams and the remaining direct acceptances are made up of one team apiece from Argentina, China, Czech Republic, Finland, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland,…
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Special Report: The search for closure: Family makes heartfelt plea for finding lost crew of MV Hope
Special Report PHUKET: The family of Captain Rajib Chandra Karmaker, master of the Bangladeshi cargo ship MV Hope, has launched a public appeal for any information that may lead to the recovery of the missing captain’s body and those of his lost shipmates. The Hope, laden with ball clay, was struck broadside by large waves and listed heavily in stormy…
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Special Report: Permission to function in Phuket
Special Report PHUKET: The separate arrests of a German man and a Swiss man at their homes in Chalong late last month (story here) by Immigration officials sent a chill through the law-abiding expat community in Phuket. The two men were arrested despite their protests that they were each building their own boat for their own private use. The Phuket…
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SuperCheap Phuket rises from the ashes
PHUKET: At 5am today, SuperCheap re-opened on a lot nearby the burned ruble of its main building and began selling fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and seafood. The re-opening comes just 32 hours after the devastating fire engulfed the complex Wednesday night (story here). Tents and tarps are now set up to create a temporary marketplace in a field next to…
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Top Phuket official issued urgent order to relinquish post
PHUKET: Kathu District Chief Veera Kerdsirimongkol has been ordered out of Phuket, effective October 28. Mr Veera told the Phuket Gazette that he received the “urgent order” to leave the province within 10 days at 3pm today. “I actually heard the news last night, but the official order came this afternoon,” he said. “I have not been given a precise…
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Phuket Opinion: Scare tactics to keep Chinese safe
PHUKET: A few weeks ago I was swimming at Racha Island, in Batok Bay. When I got out past the breakers I found myself face-to-face with a Chinese man on a boogie board. He immediately struck up a conversation with me, asking where I was from. After determining that I do not speak Chinese and have no plans to visit…
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Phuket Opinion: New top cop staying tough on drugs
The new Phuket Provincial Police Commander, Ong-art Phiwruangnont, 59, is from Yasothon. He graduated from the Royal Police Cadet Academy and has spent his entire career in the police force. Before coming to Phuket, Maj Gen Ong-art was Provincial Police Commander in Nakhon Ratchasima.Here he talks about why his priority is eradicating drugs from Phuket, and why gambling should be…
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Phuket Opinion: A festival full of firecrackers
PHUKET: Credit must be given where it is clearly due: to the authorities who arrested more than 20 people for the illegal use or sale of dangerous fireworks during the recently concluded Vegetarian Festival (story here). The Phuket Provincial Police have sent out somewhat mixed signals in recent years with regard to what level of fireworks usage would be allowed…
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Investigators find no bodies in charred ruins of SuperCheap, yet
PHUKET: Investigators searching the scorched remains of SuperCheap discovered no bodies yesterday but called for boots and rakes as they recommenced their search this morning.“I have already requested the equipment from the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor),” Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut told the press today.Amid concerns that the debris and smoke may pose an environmental hazard, officials from the Natural…
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Phuket SuperCheap blaze damage estimated at B500mn
PHUKET: After 18 years in Phuket, the main SuperCheap store and warehouse were gutted on Wednesday in the island’s largest-ever fire.Located on a 30-rai (4.8-hectare) plot once occupied by a factory, the main SuperCheap store – a legacy of the Anantajaroonwong family – had grown from being a rickety warehouse supported by wooden pillars and a corrugated-iron roof into a…
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Phuket Gazette World News: More bombs in Myanmar; Washington goes back to work; Wildfires threaten Sydney; Pirate attacks surge off Nigeria
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community More bomb blasts in Myanmar as police arrest four suspects Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Several bombs exploded in northeastern Myanmar on Thursday, police said, the latest in a string of unexplained attacks, including a blast this week that injured an American tourist in a plush hotel in…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Thailand joins search for bodies in Laos Mekong plane crash; Bad weather blamed; Stewardess’ last message breaks hearts
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Thai divers, workers join search at Laos crash site The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Thailand yesterday dispatched divers and rescue workers to help Laotian authorities retrieve the bodies of 49 people killed in Wednesday’s plane crash near Laos’ southern city of Pakse.The Royal Thai Navy sent a…
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Search begins for victims of Phuket SuperCheap inferno
PHUKET: Officers from Region 8 Police Forensics arrived at the aftermath of the Phuket SuperCheap inferno just before 4pm today. Within minutes, the team of investigators began their search for victims near the main entrance at the front of the store, and looked for possible causes of the fire. SuperCheap management and the police have yet to issue any public…
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Phuket backhoe driver killed in bedrock collapse
PHUKET: A backhoe driver working at a quarry in Kathu died today when a large chunk of bedrock fell onto the cab of his digger, crushing him and the cab.Officers have yet to determine why the huge slab of granite collapsed onto the backhoe operated by Sudrak Nawakoaksorn, 31, from Nakhon Sri Thammarat.Mr Sudrak turned up for work at the…
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Phuket Town landlord found hanged
PHUKET: Police are not treating as suspicious the death of a Phuket Town landlord who was found hanged in her three-story home in the heart of Old Phuket Town yesterday morning. Saranpitchaya Suwannacheep, 40, was found hanged at her shophouse home in Soi Soon Uthit (map here) at about 10am by her younger brother. “My sister owned an apartment building…
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Video Report: Phuket Police wait for Region 8 to begin search for bodies
PHUKET: Phuket police are waiting for Region 8 Forensic officers to arrive before starting to sift through the demolished SuperCheap structure for signs of those who may have died in the enormous blaze that started last night and continued well into today.“When the team arrives, officials can start their investigation and the search for bodies,” Phuket Provincial Police Commander Ong-art…
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Man borrows girlfriend’s motorbike for Phuket purse-snatching
PHUKET: A man borrowed his girlfriend’s motorbike on Tuesday, snatched two purses and rode home, only to be arrested a few hours later. Watchara Sornsud, 25, first grabbed the bag of Russian tourist Anastasia Zabello as she was walking in Soi Bang Yai behind Big C on Tuesday morning, said Wichit Police Superintendent Chaowalit Petchsripia. Ms Zabello noted that he…
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