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Dramatic increase in HIV infection
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket has recorded a horrifying increase in the number of AIDS cases this year. Dr Boonrieng Chuchaisangrat, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Health Office – which has been tracking AIDS infection in Phuket since 1989 – said that between December last year and June this year the number of recorded HIV and AIDS patients in Phuket has risen…
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Blue suede dudes
BANGKOK (AFP): The largest-ever gathering of Thai Elvis impersonators rocked a packed auditorium here last night in a sign of the growing popularity of “The King” in Bangkok, 23 years after his death. During a five-hour show, Thai Elvis impersonators, including one who has been performing since the late 1950s, sang tunes ranging from standards such as “Jailhouse Rock” to…
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Swede dies after stabbing
PATONG: Stig Gustaf Mörk, 57, a Swede living in Patong, died on Friday morning of massive blood loss, after being stabbed the evening before. Pol Col Kokiat Wongvorachart, superintendent of Kathu police Station, said that Mr Mörk was stabbed by his girlfriend, Ranthom Namyoo, 37, from Supan Buri. Col Kokiat said that according to a confession Ranthom made to the…
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11 bars face charges after raids
PHUKET TOWN: Eleven pubs and restaurants were today charged with a variety of offenses after raids by 120 Phuket Town police officers early yesterday morning. Four establishments – Kon Tid Din Pub, Kung Ja Restaurant, Studio Pub, and Rong-Tium Pub – were charged with allowing entry to people under the age of 18. Suan Ahan Pae-Tai Restaurant was charged with…
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Government pressured to resign after corruption verdict
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s stunned government came under pressure today to call an early election in the wake of the corruption verdict against powerful former interior minister Sanan Kanchornprasart. Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai of Sanan’s ruling Democrat Party should quit as prime minister and call new elections to take responsibility for Sanan’s actions, said Adisorn Piangket, an opposition MP. “The Democrats…
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Ladies-only bus service set up
PHUKET TOWN: A local company has started a bus service exclusively for women on the long distance route between Phuket and Bangkok. Phuket Travel plans to do 14 trial runs of the “ladies bus” during the month of August. The company has provided this service for the past two months, but few people know that it is available. However, most…
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Phuket Tourism Association elects new president
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Tourism Association (PTA) has finally elected a new president at a meeting held Tuesday evening at the Phuket Merlin Hotel. Sombat Atiset, managing director of Kata Thani Hotel & Beach Resort, was elected by the majority of eligible voters. K. Sombat said that the first issue the PTA will address is the hotel tax, which will…
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Sanan quits party post after conviction for graft
BANGKOK, Aug 10 (AFP) – Thailand’s former interior minister Sanan Kachornprasart Thursday resigned as secretary general of the ruling Democrat party, hours after the Constitutional Court found him guilty of corruption. “I listened to the court’s verdict with respect, and I do not regret the verdict. I accept the court’s decision,” he said in a statement read out by government…
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Victim’s friend confesses to Saphan Hin murder
PHUKET: The police have arrested a man in connection with the murder of a long-tail boat driver in Sapan Hin last week. Santi Prachumchai, 29, a construction worker, was arrested for the murder of Chin Lueyot on Sunday at his friend’s home at 8/7 Amphur Rd, Phuket Town. The police made the arrest after speaking with friends of K. Chin…
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OrBorJor to take over local bus service
PHUKET TOWN: Dr Prasit Koysiripong, President of Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), announced last week that the OrBorJor has decided to take over the operation of a new local bus service. In May, PB Holdings pulled out of the venture as the company believed it could not survive with passenger fares restricted to 10 baht. The restriction was stipulated in…
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Sapan Hin murder victim identified
PHUKET: The identity of a man who was found dead in Saphan Hin on Saturday evening, July 29, has now been established. The murder victim has been identified as Chin Lueyot, 33, a Phuket-based long tail boat driver. Last week, Tanakarn Wareethip, a construction worker from Tambon Rasada and a friend of Khun Chin, saw a picture in a local…
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Air passengers surpass year-ago figure
PHUKET: Heartening news for the low season comes with the latest monthly figures issued by Phuket International Airport. These show an 8.73% rise in passengers using the airport, compared with June 1999. The statistics show that 208,426 passengers went through the airport in June of this year, compared with 191,698 in the same month last year. Due primarily to an…
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Drugs spreading rapidly into southern Thailand
HAT YAI (AFP): Amphetamine addiction, which has caused havoc in Thailand’s cities and been named its top national security threat, has now spread to the rural south, the army says. “I believe that more than 50 percent of the villages in the south already have a drug problem,” said Lieutenant General Narong Denudom, the commander of Thailand’s Fourth Army which…
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Tourist guide nabbed for passing phoney bill
CHALONG: After arresting Viroj Chookrue, a Thai photographer, on counterfeiting charges three days ago, Chalong police arrested the man who they suspect gave the money to him. Porramet Thongton, a 28-year-old tourist guide, was arrested yesterday on counterfeiting charges after Viroj told police that Porramet had given him a phoney $50 bill. Pol Capt Sanae Panmee of Chalong Police Station…
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Abandoned baby found in field
KATHU: A baby boy, estimated to be only three days old, was found abandoned in a field used by a driver’s training school in Kathu yesterday morning. Pol Capt Theerarat Choychanchaikul, of Thung Thong Sub-District Police Station, said the baby was found wrapped in a towel inside a black leather bag. The bag had been placed on the ground next…
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Beach tar not really a hazard, say officials
NAI YANG: In response to complaints from both tourists and Thais about tar washing up on Phuket’s beaches, a team of local government officials and environmental experts investigated the problem at Nai Yang Beach yesterday. The investigation was led by the Phuket Health Office and the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) at the request of Phuket Governor Charnchai Soontharamut. Phuket…
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Phuket parents don’t want sex bags in schools
PHUKET: Phuket is trying to bolster its defense against AIDS by increasing education and stepping up the distribution of condoms. But the province faces stiff resistance from the local population. According to Dr Boonrieng Chuchaisangrat, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office, the reason Phuket has the second highest rate of AIDS infection in southern Thailand is that both…
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PPEA announces blackouts for August
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA) has announced scheduled blackouts for the month of August. The PPEA will be clearing tree branches and adding covers to the electric lines in these areas. On all days listed, the blackout will extend from 9 am to 4 pm. August 3: from Phuket Town Municipality to SU Garage, including Surin Rd; some…
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Murder victim found in Saphan Hin
PHUKET: A man was found murdered in Saphan Hin, Phuket Town, on Saturday evening. Police have not yet been able to confirm whether he is Thai or Burmese. Police said the victim died of blood loss from stab wounds to his face. Other wounds on his body indicated that he had been involved in a fight. Pol Capt Pin Inmak…
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Deadly disease returns to Phuket
PHUKET: Burmese, Laotian, and Cambodian laborers have brought a deadly disease back to Thailand, the Phuket Provincial Health Office said yesterday at its monthly meeting. In March, two people in Phuket were infected with the contagious disease, which is called Meningo Cocemia. The first, an unidentified Burmese worker, transmitted the contagious disease to a Thai child living in the same…
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20 die in traffic accidents
PHUKET: Twenty people died in traffic accidents between May 20 and June 20, according to statistics from the Wachira, Thalang and Patong government hospitals. Ampaipan Pawawattananusorn of the Phuket Provincial Health Office reports that 18 of the victims died while on motorcycles, while one was in a car and one was riding a bicycle. In the same period, 84 people…
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Thai journalists taught to fire weapons
KHON KAEN (AFP): More than 100 Thai journalists have started a government-funded weapons training course in a northeastern province where several reporters have been killed, police said today. There are 111 members of the press, including 13 women, on the course. It is teaching them how to fire several types of guns, said police Lt Col Montri Jaranpong of the…
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One more blackout to come
PHUKET TOWN: Following Tuesday’s island-wide blackout, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) has said that there will be one more power outage when the last piece of work on a new, higher-capacity cable is completed. But neither Banlue Teerametawit, EGAT’s assistant governor for transmission construction, nor Rangsan Ammarin, an engineer with the authority, could say exactly when the final…
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German arrested for lonely hearts scam
BANGKOK (AFP): A German man who ran an Internet scam, posing as a Thai woman in search of a Western husband, has been arrested for fraud, police said today. Rudiger Reischert, 50, conned at least 500,000 baht out of men who responded to an advertisement he placed on a matchmaking website in the name of “Thaee Maiyuran”. The money the…
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Ordeal at sea after fishing boat sinks
PHANG-NGA BAY: An 83-year-old was among seven men rescued today after their fishing boat sank early Monday morning off Koh Taloo in Phang Nga Bay and they spent as much as 30 hours clinging to debris. Commodore Preecharn Jamjaroen of the Royal Thai Navy’s Third Fleet said that the seven took the boat out on Monday morning to go fishing…
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Rotting body “was executed’
THALANG: The bloated and rotting body of a murdered man was found Saturday in a rubber plantation next to the entrance to the Bang Pae waterfall in Thalang. Pol Maj Jaroon Plaiduang of Thalang Police Station said that police had not been able to identify the victim because the corpse had been rotting for about seven days. However, they suspect…
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Treasure hunters suffocate in cave
KANCHANABURI (AFP): Six treasure hunters died in a cave in this western province as they searched for gold rumored to have been stashed there 50 years ago by defeated Japanese soldiers. Police in Sangkla Buri district said today that the four men and two women died after becoming trapped 50 meters into the narrow cave. “They died because of lack…
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Two Drown at Kata Noi
KATA NOI: Two Japanese tourists drowned at Kata Noi Beach on Friday. Pol Maj Pissanu Poonwong of the Phuket Town Police identified the victims as Yoshinori Gotoda, 51, and Sajime Miya, 54. The two men were guests of the Kata Thani Hotel and had arrived in Phuket on Wednesday as part of a tour group. Although there were red flags…
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Ministry aims to get the sex out of massage
BANGKOK (AFP): To restore the image of traditional Thai massage, all public hospitals will be required to offer classically trained masseurs to patients, Health Minister Korn Dabbaransi announced today. “In order to rehabilitate Thai traditional massage, so that it is not misused for commercial sex, all hospitals under the ministry will have to hire masseurs,” Korn said in a statement.…
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Man drowns while fishing in park
PHUKET TOWN: An elderly man was found drowned in the lake at Suan Luang Park on Thursday. Pol Maj Pitsanoo Poolwong of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that he received a report from people living in the area that there was a body floating in the lake. When the corpse was taken out of the water, it was…
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