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Belgian, struck twice, dies in motorcycle accident
CHALONG: A 43-year-old Belgian man, named by police as Carlo Webers, was killed in a traffic accident on Chaofa Nai Rd early yesterday morning. According to Pol Maj Thanate Poungmanee of Chalong Police Station, Mr Webers was riding a motorcycle into Phuket Town at around 1 am. He was near the Tang Luck restaurant when he was hit by a…
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Patong facing water rationing for monsoon season
PATONG: The Phuket Water Works is warning Patong residents that between now and October there will be less tap water available than usual for this time of year. According to Praphop Thongmon, manager at the water works, this is not because Phuket is suffering a drought. It is simply because the supply of water to be shared by Patong, Kata,…
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Movie protest falls mostly on deaf ears
PHUKET TOWN: About 20 environmental protesters gathered to demonstrate against Phuket’s premier screening of ‘The Beach’ yesterday, claiming Maya Bay on Phi Phi Island was destroyed during the show’s filming. The protest lacked support, but drew curious onlookers and moviegoers as they entered the cinema despite pleas by the Phuket Environment Protection Group (PEPG) to boycott the film. Although Twentieth-Century…
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Hotel staff beaten up, hospitalized by undercover police
PATONG BEACH: Kathu Police Station is in the hot seat due to complaints of “unnecessary roughness” while five men were being arrested yesterday morning. The five are Piyapong Kwanmuang, 20, Sahakij Payakka, 19, Sarawuth Sang-ngern, 20, Wanchai Klingklao, 20, and Winai Sumpaothong, 19 — all employees of the Tara Patong Hotel. Areerat Choomchuay, deputy personnel manager of the hotel, told…
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New “hotel’ has little to offer tourists
PATONG BEACH: Although most Phuket residents and tourists visiting Patong are aware of the slum that has developed in the Patong Night Plaza (opposite Christin Massage on Rat-U-Thit Rd), few are familiar with the details of what transpires within. A website, https://www.hotelburma.com, has now been established to enlighten the curious. According to the website, the “Hotel Burma”, which it bills…
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Crew of hijacked tanker found
PHUKET: The crew of the hijacked Japanese tanker, the Global Mars, were found on an island off the coast of Phanga Nga Province on Friday after a 17-day ordeal at sea. The vessel, with 17 crew members – seven Koreans and 10 Burmese – left Port Klang in Malaysia on February 22, bound for the Indian port of Haldia with…
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Truck smashes into 12 vehicles
PATONG: A 10-wheel truck carrying a full load of rocks and soil went out of control coming down the hill into Patong from Kathu yesterday, smashing into 12 vehicles, including a hotel staff bus, and then ramming a roadside garage. Amazingly, no one was seriously injured, though 15 people in the hotel bus had to be treated for cuts and…
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Hitmen caught after getting cold feet
PHUKET TOWN: Three men from Trang were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly threatening the life of a 77-year-old woman who is a major land-owner in the Sam Kong area of Phuket Town. Somporn Paotong, 28, Wannarat Kamsoot, 26, and Soontorn Siripan, 24, were arrested at Nimit Circle on Ong Sim Pai Rd in Phuket Town as Somporn made a call…
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Three masked robbers arrested
PHUKET TOWN: Three of the four masked robbers who held the owner of a grocery store and his family at gunpoint nine days ago were arrested yesterday afternoon. The robbers, dressed in rubber “ghost” masks, robbed the family in their store, near Suanluang Park, of 67,000 baht in cash and gold jewelry. The arrests were made in a police raid…
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Korean dies in traffic accident
BAAN MANIK: A South Korean thought to be working as a translator in Phuket was killed yesterday morning in a road accident on Sri Soontorn Rd, near the Heroines monument. Pol Capt Suwarit Prommool of the Thalang Police Station named the dead man as Yi Geen Wheng, 33. He said Mr Yi was driving west toward the monument when his…
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Search for Miss Jumbo begins
BANGKOK (AFP) – The search is on for appropriate candidates for Miss Jumbo 2000, Thailand’s best-known beauty pageant for large women, and a major source of funding for elephant conservation. Women must weigh more than 80 kilograms to be eligible for the Jumbo Queen pageant, which will be held on May 1. “The competition aims to find the most beautiful…
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Speedboat flips, kills owner
KARON: Montri Chuernark, a 27-year-old boat-trip operator, was killed after his boat flipped over and he was hit by the propeller. He was the second person to be killed by a boat propeller in the Phuket area in just five days. Pol Capt Chana Sootthimat of Chalong Police Station told the Gazette that Montri had bought the second-hand speedboat two…
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Fire destroys shops in Kata
KATA: Three small stores across from Kata Beach Resort were destroyed by fire yesterday morning. Pol Capt Chana Sootthimat of the Chalong Police Station told the Gazette that the fire started at about 9 am in a clothing store made of bamboo and galvanized iron. The fire quickly spread to an adjoining optical store and then further down to a…
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Boy, six, drowns in channel
NAI HARN: Thanat Massatool, a six-year-old boy from Koh Kaew, drowned in a water channel near Nai Harn Beach on Sunday. Pol Maj Sanae Panmee of Chalong Police Station said the accident took place at the south end of Nai Harn beach, where the channel connects Nong Harn pond and Nai Harn Beach. The boy and his family had been…
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Tourist killed by boat propeller
KURABURI: A 40-year-old German tourist was killed by a boat propeller while snorkeling off Koh Tachai, Phang Nga Province, on Thursday. Pol Lt Col Narongyot Aunhabandit, deputy superintendent of Kuraburi District Police Station, told the Gazette that the tourist, whom he named as Beatrix Hannelore Miczuga, was on holiday in Phuket when she and friends decided to take a day…
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Couple saved from insecticide suicide
CHALONG: A 65-year-old German resident and his 45-year-old Thai wife were rushed to Wachira Phuket Hospital on Friday evening after apparently attempting to kill themselves by spraying insecticide into their mouths. Pol Lt Pachai Muttayan of Chalong Police Station said that officers were called to an apartment block in Rawai. The caller reported that two people in the apartment seemed…
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FantaSea to build theme park in Langkawi
PHUKET: Pin Kewpaisal, president and CEO of Phuket Fantasea, has revealed that Dr Mahathir Mohamed, Prime Minister of Malaysia, has asked him to build a new theme park in Langkawi, and he has agreed. In an interview with Tansettakit newspaper, K. Pin said that he had already had two conferences with Dr Mahathir to discuss the Prime Minister’s plan. K.…
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Dulwich students hospitalized
KOH KAEW: Two students from Dulwich International College ended up in Phya Thai Hospital this morning with serious diarrhea after attending a dinner party at the school last night. The dinner was part of the festivities surrounding the FOBISSEA sports tournament, which this year took place at Dulwich, and which involved students from all over Asia. Dr Jesada Chaikunrat, preventive…
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Con men pick the wrong target
PHUKET TOWN: Two alleged con artists from Africa were arrested late Tuesday night for trying to pull one of the world’s best-known con-tricks – the black-paper-into-cash scam. Unfortunately, their target was a cop who, instead of taking them up on their offer, took them downtown. Pol Lt Akanich Darnpitaksart, deputy inspector at Phuket Town Police Station, said 30-year-old Tchouffang Moukeumen,…
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Gazettes maul US Navy 42-28
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Gazettes rugby team once more overwhelmed the team from the American flotilla led by the USS Blue Ridge yesterday, at Surakhul Stadium, finishing with a scoreline of 42-28. They could not claim all the glory, however; a shortage of players meant the Gazettes had to borrow several men from the other side to make up their…
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City bus service “to start next month’
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Town’s first real bus service – originally scheduled to start in May last year and then postponed to January this year – is expected finally to be up and running some time in April. Introduction of the service has been delayed because PB Holdings, the bus operator, was not able to find 26 buses of the right…
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Death sparks “dangerous road’ warning
KATA: Police have warned about the dangers of the road outside the Marine Cottage resort after a 22-year-old motorcyclist, Supit Kaminkaew, died there on Sunday afternoon, after she was run over by a bus. Supit is the fifth person to die on that stretch of road in the past few months. Pol Capt Chana Sootthimat of Chalong Police Station said…
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Schmid proves he’s top mountain biker
PHUKET: Switzerland’s Marco Schmid, 28, stormed to victory in Sunday’s 30-km Muang Chaofa Mountain Bike Race, repeating his victory a week ago in Surat Thani over Thailand’s Satit Ruanpae. Third was Direc Pamornchat. Satit finished in one hour, 18 minutes and 19 seconds, seven minutes and 10 seconds behind Schmid’s 1:11:09. Direc clocked 1:20:22. The super-fit Schmid admitted he could…
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THAI domestic fares to rise 13pc
PHUKET: Thai Airways International (THAI) is to raise fares for all domestic flights by about 13% on April 20. The one-way airfare for the Phuket-Bangkok service will be raised by 13.5% from 2,000 baht to 2,270 Baht for economy class, and by 10.8% from 2,770 baht to 3,070 baht for business class. The hike was originally approved by THAI’s Board…
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12 die in bus crash
KANCHANABURI (AFP) – Twelve Thais were killed and eight seriously hurt when a tour bus traveling to a Buddhist temple near the border with Burma plunged into a deep ravine, police said today. The bus, carrying 45 mainly elderly people from Bangkok, left the road and plunged 50 meters before coming to a stop in Kanchanaburi province’s Sangkla district early…
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CAT to hike prices for EMS delivery
PHUKET: The Communication Authority of Thailand (CAT) is to raise the charges for domestic deliveries by its Express Mail Service (EMS) with effect from Wednesday. For mail weighing less than 20 grams, the fee will be increased from 15 to 20 baht. For mail between 20-100 grams, the fee will be increased from 17 baht to 25 baht. For those…
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Ten arrested for illegal immigration scam
PHUKET AIRPORT: Two Malaysian women, a Singaporean woman and a Thai man were arrested yesterday at Phuket International Airport for involvement in an attempt to sneak six Chinese illegal immigrants out of Thailand and into Singapore. The six Chinese were also caught. Pol Lt Col Annop Suwanchatri, an immigration inspector at Phuket International Airport, said there were actually 12 people…
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Burmese boys escape detention center
PHUKET TOWN: Three Burmese boys escaped from the Juvenile Observation and Protection Center near Saphan Hin early yesterday morning. Two were recaptured within hours but the third is still at large. The escape, according to Pongsura Krainara, the center’s chief, took place at around 6 am when the three boys were detailed to help a guard at the center carry…
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Chinese cadres head for Phuket
PHUKET: After the brief holiday enjoyed by China’s President, Jiang Zemin, in Phuket last year, it seems that the island is becoming a vacation choice for senior communist cadres from the People’s Republic. Tomorrow sees the arrival of 17 communist officials, led by the president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Li Tieying, who is also a member of…
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Industrialists may become more “eco-friendly’
PHUKET TOWN: Wiboolchai Na Ranong, managing director of Toyota Pearl Co Ltd, was elected on Tuesday as the new president of the Phuket chapter of the Federation of Thai Industries, and immediately pledged to steer the chapter’s members toward being more eco-friendly. After being elected, K. Wiboolchai said that his first priority is to get more people, especially businesspeople in…
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