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Four die in weekend horror smashes
PA KHLOK: Four people were killed on Sunday night in two separate road accidents involving motorcycles. One of the victims was a five-year-old child. At about 7 pm on Sunday, two women and a boy – members of the same family – were killed after the motorcycle they were riding collided with a pickup truck on the Baan Para –…
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B20m CCTV system for Rawai
RAWAI: As part of a bid to crack down on crime in the area, Rawai Municipality has been granted 20 million baht in central government funding for the installation of 32 closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras. Rawai Mayor Aroon Solos made the announcement at an August 15 ceremony held to announce a range of crime-fighting initiatives in Rawai. Camera installation…
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Tourism steady despite economic woes
PHUKET CITY: Despite global economic problems, tourism in Phuket continues to grow, with 4.79 million tourists having passed through Phuket International Airport since the beginning of the fiscal 2008, up 600,000 from the same period a year earlier. Anoma Thongyai, deputy director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) South Region 4 Office in Phuket, revealed the figures at the…
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Laguna Phuket Triathlon 2008 breaks records before it begins
BANG TAO: With more than three months still to go until the Laguna Phuket Triathlon 2008 on December 7, the “Race of Legends” has already sold out.Some 750 athletes and about 50 teams of participants rushed to secure their places through online bookings for the 15th annual Laguna Phuket Triathlon after dates for the international competition were announced.The event comprises…
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Catch of the day
RASSADA: Phuket City Police yesterday morning took into custody a fugitive murder suspect from Trang as he was unloading fish at the pier on Koh Sireh. Phuket City Police Investigator Capt Jessada Janpum identified the fugitive as 25-year-old Jirasak Chamnankiat, who was a resident of tambon Natoming in Trang’s Muang District until he went on the run three months ago.…
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Heartsick firefigher found hanged
PHUKET CITY: Police on August 14 discovered the decomposing corpse of a municipal firefighter who apparently hanged himself several days earlier. Phuket City Police Duty Officer Pol Lt Tada Sodarak identified the deceased as Apirat Sararat, a 30-year-old native of Pattani. Police were informed of Khun Apirat’s death by a 191 call placed by fellow residents of the firefighter’s dormitory…
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Phuket to host “Cleanest Toilet” awards
PHUKET CITY: The Department of Public Health has chosen Royal Phuket City Hotel as the venue to present “The Cleanest Toilet in the South Awards”. Privvies are being polished around the south as 13 regional branches of the Public Health Ministry prepare to enter their public conveniences into the contest. The award event on August 20 will start with a…
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Heirlooms for sale: 89,000,001 baht
PHUKET CITY: Pattani-native Rozita Hazan, who owns a busy restaurant in front of Phuket Rajabhat University, is hoping to sell a pair of family heirlooms, passed down through five generations, for a little more than 89 million baht. K. Rozita aims to find a new home for her ring and bracelet, but rather than adhering to a regular auction she…
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Pet rottweilers kill their owners’ daughter
NAKHON RATCHASIMA: The 2-year-old daughter of a Dutch expat and his Thai wife was mauled to death early this morning by the two rottweilers they kept as guard dogs at the family’s home in Nakhon Ratchasima.The mother, Jintana Ploo, who was seriously injured after trying to save her daughter from the two dogs, said her husband had raised the rottweilers…
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Weapons cache discovered on Frenchman’s yacht
PHUKET: A man piloting a luxury yacht has been arrested by Phuket Marine Police officers after several guns and ammunition were found stashed aboard the boat he was operating.Investigating Marine Police officer Deputy Superintendent Lt Col Prasert Srikunrat told a press conference that the arrest came at 8 pm on Monday, after Thalang district volunteer police noticed people getting off…
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Bikini shop bust nets B10m in counterfeit stash
PHUKET CITY: A bikini is normally donned to cover up a woman’s private parts, but a bikini-vending operation in downtown Phuket was found concealing something much larger, and with a different kind of value: a stash of more than 90,000 counterfeit T-shirts.Officers from the Police Region 8 Investigation Center raided a secret warehouse in the center of Phuket City Saturday…
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Supalai Resort to install swim dock
PHUKET CITY: The provincial committee on waterways has approved a request by Best Western Premier Supalai Resort & Spa in Pa Khlok to construct a 200-meter floating dock to give resort guests access to the sea. The committee, chaired by Phuket Vice-Governor Worapoj Ratthasima, met at Phuket Provincial Hall on August 7 to discuss the license application. Its members include…
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Amputee turtle recovering well
CAPE PANWA: An immature Olive Ridley sea turtle whose badly infected front left flipper had to be amputated by veterinarians at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) in early June is recovering well at the center, where it is eating well on a diet of fish and squid. Named Hope by members of the Mai Khao Sea Turtle Foundation that…
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Patrols help curb illegal trawling
PHUKET CITY: The number of fishing boats illegally trawling within Phuket’s three-kilometer exclusion zone has been greatly reduced thanks to stepped up patrols by authorities and good co-operation from local fishermen, the local Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) office has announced. Paitoon Panchaiyapoom, chief of the DMCR Region 4 Office in Phuket, said there have been just three…
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Sugar daddies duped by pretended pregnancies
UBON RATCHATHANI: Attractive women having relationships with much older and considerably less attractive men for financial benefit is certainly nothing new. In Isarn, however, some girls have allegedly started using an ingenious method to extract more money from their stingy sugar daddies: having their stomachs injected with chemicals to make them appear pregnant. Pukki, a 20-year-old college student from Ubon…
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Hundreds of turtles released in Mothers’ Day ceremony
CAPE PANWA: More than 300 baby green sea turtles were released into the sea at the Third Naval Area Command, Cape Panwa today (August 12) as a way of celebrating the birthday of HM Queen Sirikit, which is also Mothers’ Day in Thailand. Students from schools in the Panwa area helped naval officers, municipality officers and staff from local resorts…
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Funeral held for soldiers
RAWAI: Friends of Australian Jason Gerrard Flynn and James Plunkett Howe from the UK, whose bodies were discovered at a guesthouse in Rawai on July 28, attended a Buddhist funeral ceremony for both men on Sunday at Wat Sawang Arom temple in Rawai.The ex-servicemen were in their early 30s. They died unexpectedly overnight after celebrating during their last few days…
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Bangkok prisoner’s cell phone orders prompt Phuket drug raid
PHUKET: A man incarcerated on drug charges at Klong Prem Central prison in Bangkok managed to order a bus to transport 3,000 ya bah (methamphetamines) pills to his son in Phuket from his prison cell. However, not everything went according to plan for the father-son duo.The Phuket Provincial Police drug suppression unit discovered 2,893 of the pills when they raided three…
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OrBorJor targets bus service, hotel tax issue
PHUKET CITY: New projects launched by the new Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) include persuading more hotel owners to pay the controversial 1% hotel room tax and improving the OrBorJor bus service in and around Phuket City. OrBorJor President Paiboon Upatising told the Gazette the initiatives fall under the OrBorJor policy to improve public services and promote tourism in the…
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Truck crash on Patong Hill
PATONG: This 6-wheel Hino flatbed truck, which lost control on Phrabarami Rd in Patong at about 4 pm Wednesday afternoon, finally came to rest when it hit an electric power pylon.Under questioning at Kathu Police Station, the uninjured driver said his brakes failed.Kathu Police Superintendent Col Grissak Songmoonnark was first at the scene, directing traffic by himself while a tow…
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Healthy growth for local television
PHUKET: After recently extending its network from local provincial cable and the Web, where PGTV appears as Number One in Google under the prime search term “Phuket Television”, the Phuket Gazette’s daily English-language television content has now been added in healthy doses to all patient rooms at Phuket International Hospital, and to the 15-inch touch-screen monitors on all of the…
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Labor camp raided near Mai Khao
TAH CHAT CHAI: Some 50 police and local villagers raided a laborers’ camp beside a construction site near Mai Khao Beach Tuesday morning, taking into custody 82 male workers on charges of illegal entry into the Kingdom. As is commonly the case when such raids take place in Phuket, no employer was found or charged. Pol Lt Col Jamroon Plaiduong…
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OrBorJor back in charge at Chalong Pier
CHALONG: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) was on August 1 back at the helm running operations at Chalong Pier after cutting ties with Chokaree Tour Co Ltd, the company previously enlisted to collect berthing fees and run the pier on the OrBorJor‘s behalf. A team led by OrBorJor Vice-President Chaowalit Na Nakorn visited the pier on August 1 to…
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Cypriot MP calls on Gov Niran
PHUKET CITY: Cypriot MP and European Parliament Member Marios Matsakis on August 1 met with top Phuket officials to follow up on Phuket’s progress in disaster prevention measures since the 2004 tsunami. Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit and Chotnarin Kerdsom, chief of the Department of Disaster Mitigation and Prevention (DDPM-Phuket), were both on hand to brief him. Mr Matsakis, who is…
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Elderly Belgian hospitalized after roadside incident
PHUKET CITY: A morning cycle ride turned into a nightmare for a 68-year-old Belgian expat who was hospitalized after allegedly being knocked off his bicycle by a pickup truck and then set upon by the driver. Paul Cassiens was cycling along Chao Fa West Rd yesterday morning when at 6:30 am his bike came into contact with a bronze Toyota…
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Killer cobbler
PATHUM THANI: As anyone who remembers the case of the football fan shot dead in Pattaya for cheering too loudly while watching Italy’s opening match of the 2006 world cup will know, the tragi-comic overreaction is something of a staple in the Thai press. One unfortunate fellow fell victim to this trend on July 11, receiving far more than he deserved for…
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Superlover meets sticky end
NAKON PATHOM: Many a wife would be happy that her aging husband can still “go all night” without the aid of those little blue pills. As the saying goes, however, you can have too much of a good thing – and a high sex drive can be troublesome, even fatal, as one unfortunate lothario found out at the end of…
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Wasp wipe out a blast
PHRAE: Two teachers in Phrae province were left fuming on June 23 after asking their local council for help in ridding their house of a wasps’ nest only to come back and find that the fumigators had rid them not only of the wasps, but also of half their house. Praphan Saisa-aat, 51, and his wife, K. Rachanee, 53, were…
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Backlund murder trial enters final days
PHUKET: The final hearing of witnesses in the Hanna Backlund murder trial will be held this Friday, Phuket Provincial Court Registrar Sittipong Engchuan told the Gazette today.Akaradech Tongay is accused of stabbing Ms Backlund to death in broad daylight at Mai Khao Beach on March 15.He will be given a final chance to add to his confession and Pol Lt Col Somkit…
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PAD rallies to continue in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: Local members of the anti-government People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) will continue their evening gatherings at Saphan Hin even though Khunying Pojaman Shinawatra, wife of ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was found guilty of tax evasion in court on Thursday.Phuket PAD leader Natjarong Ekpermsup told the Gazette, “We will only stop protesting if the Bangkok protests stop.”While the PAD…
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