Pattaya News
Welcome to The Thaiger’s Pattaya news page, your one-stop destination for the latest happenings in Thailand’s coastal town, AKA Sin City of the East! Our dedicated team delivers up-to-the-minute news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive stories from Pattaya, covering everything from local politics and business to entertainment and lifestyle. Stay informed about the city’s thriving tourism industry, expat community, and vibrant nightlife, as well as updates on events, attractions, and transportation.
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Thailand’s tourist magnets deserted and desperate
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, bird flu, SARS, political upheavals, passenger boats sinking. None of these have had anywhere near the effect of this year’s Covid-19 pandemic in Thailand. Visitor numbers, even from the usually enthusiastic Tourism Authority of Thailand, are expected to plummet up to 80% for the year. The other 20% mostly visited the Kingdom in the first…
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Sudden downpour floods Pattaya’s main roads
More rain in Pattaya today brining flooding to some of the ‘usual’ spots and affecting traffic. The mid-afternoon downpour flooded Pattaya’s major arteries, causing water up to 50 centimetres deep on some of the roads, including (of course) Beach Road. The rain battered the seaside city for around 2 hours. The Bangkok-Pattaya motorway was also hit by the sudden downpour…
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Welfare officials visit homeless people living in Pattaya’s abandoned bars
Social welfare officials have paid a visit to a group of homeless people in Pattaya, who have taken refuge in some of the city’s abandoned beer bar complexes. Following a report in The Pattaya News, officials pledged to allow those living there to continue to do so and to provide them with further help. Most of them have lost their…
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Navy officer jumps in to save driver after car plunges into Chon Buri canal
An officer from the Royal Thai Navy has been thanked by the driver he rescued after the man’s car plunged into a canal in Sattahip, in the eastern province of Chon Buri. Lieutenant Commander Boonlert Kunmkrong says he checked his rear-view mirror while driving and saw the car behind him enter the canal. He stopped his vehicle and jumped into…
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Pattaya’s homeless population seeks refuge in abandoned bars
Despite the easing of nearly all restrictions imposed to suppress the Covid-19 virus, Thailand’s people are still very much feeling the lingering effect of the shutdown. An ongoing ban on nearly all international arrivals has crippled the tourism industry, meaning many nightlife venues in places like Bangkok, Pattaya, and Phuket remain shut. A report in The Pattaya News shows the…
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Thai government pleased with ongoing suppression of Covid-19 despite nightlife re-opening
The spokesman for Thailand’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, Dr. Taweesin Visanuyothin, says that despite his initial concerns, there has been no new spike in virus cases following the re-opening of the country’s nightlife. While discussing phase 5 of the easing of Covid restrictions, Dr. Taweesin admits that many medical experts, including himself, had been uneasy about the move. However,…
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Pattaya students get toilet training
Students in Pattaya’s’s Nongprue district attended a unique training course this weekend – on how to properly use public toilets in the Covid-19 era. The course took place yesterday at the Wat Suthawas school. Nong Prue municipality teachers led the training, which several dozen students attended. The course focused on keeping proper hygiene as well as 7 steps for proper…
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Norwegian man found dead in Jomtien condo pool
A Norwegian man apparently drowned at a pool in a condominium in Pattaya’s Jomtien district yesterday. Pattaya City Police were notified of the incident at 5pm. The name of the victim and condo are being withheld pending an investigation and notification of the man’s family and the Norwegian embassy. Police, reporters and rescue workers arrived at the scene to find…
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Pattaya motorcyclist in fatal crash
A motorcyclist in Pattaya was pronounced dead at the scene of the incident after crashing into a water truck yesterday. Pattaya City Police were notified of the incident at the Chaiyapruek Intersection at about 1:30am. Police, emergency responders and reporters rushed to the scene to find the body of 22 year old Kittipan Duangrassamee lying on the road, bleeding heavily…
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Early morning stabbing on Pattaya beach, victim claims “for no reason”
A man was found stabbed on Pattaya Beach this morning by passersby on the beach road in front of the Royal Garden at 5:30am. The victim, 36 year old Athapol Tokrisana, reportedly shouted for help and was discovered with a knife protruding from his buttocks. Police, reporters, and rescue workers were called to the scene. Athapol was not entirely cooperative…
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Pattaya mayor on the defensive over recent floods
Struggling with severe drought just months ago, Pattaya is now facing the opposite problem. The city’s mayor has addressed criticism on social media this week regarding widespread flooding last week during a significant rainfall, telling The Pattaya News and media yesterday that the heavy rain flooded several areas, including Soi Khao Noi, the town’s railway road as well as other…
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Koh Samet park official allegedly attacked “for no reason” in Chon Buri
A national park officer has suffered head injuries after he was allegedly attacked last night by a group of teenagers in Chon Buri. He told Banglamung police there was no apparent reason for the assault. Police were notified of the incident,at a house in Baan Phuthai, at around 10:30pm. Police, emergency responders and reporters arrived to find Phonsuwan Arunsri, a…
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Electric company worker severely shocked, injured in 5 metre fall
An electrical company worker has suffered critical injuries after an electric shock caused him to fall 5 metres to the ground in Chon Buri’s Si Racha district this morning. 36 year old Adisak Bunsong, an employee of the Bueng Provincial Electricity Authority, was installing and changing electrical wires 5 metres above the ground on Road 331, near Village number 6,…
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Koh Lan to get “neo” branding to attract tourists
The popular resort island of Koh Lan, about 8 kilometres off the Pattaya coast in the Gulf of Thailand, will become “Neo Koh Lan”, as Pattaya is being upgraded as a tourism and investment hub under the Thai government’s poster economic project, the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) scheme. Pattaya’s mayor says the island, along with Koh Sichang (north of Koh Lan)…
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Busy motorbike thieves nabbed in Chon Buri
Police in Chon Buri’s Banglamung district have arrested 2 prolific motorbike thieves. Officers of Police Region 2 announced that 2 suspects, identified as 31 year old Eakkachai ‘Ton’ Jantamoon and 34 year old Manas ‘Dam’ Saeueang, were arrested at a room in Soi Sukhumwit 31. Officers seized 8 vehicles in total. The pair have been charged with multiple counts of…
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Police in Chon Buri display huge cache of seized weapon
Officers of Thailand’s Police Region 2, covering the entire eastern region, displayed a huge cache of weapons seized so far in a crackdown this month. The news was released yesterday at a press briefing at the Region 2 headquarters in Chon Buri. From July 3-9, police of Region 2, comprising 8 provinces: Chanthaburi, Chachoengsao, Chon Buri, Trad, Nakhon Nayok, Prachin…
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Two-car collision in Pattaya as flying plastic bag obscures driver’s vision
A woman whose vehicle ploughed into the back of another, causing it to flip upside down, says her vision was obscured by a garbage bag landing on her windscreen. 35 year old Supaphon Puttaraksa says she panicked and lost control of her car, crashing into another vehicle travelling in front of her. That car was being driven by 55 year…
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Russian man found hanged in Pattaya shophouse
A 45 year old Russian man has been found dead in a Jomtien shophouse. The man was discovered just after midnight today, hanging from the doorknob of his third floor rented apartment. Police say he was due to leave Thailand today bound for Russia. Pattaya City Police were notified of the incident just after midnight by the landlord in Jomtien, just…
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Mother and son rescued as car swept away in Pattaya’s flash floods – VIDEO
A woman and her son have had a lucky escape after the vehicle, which they were travelling in, was carried away by floodwaters in Pattaya. The city reported extensive flash flooding as a result of heavy downpours, with the worst of it around Soi Khao Noi, Pattaya Beach Road, and Pattaya Third Road. The heavy rains lasted for up to…
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Massive flash flood brings Pattaya to a crawl
Heavy thunderstorms in and around Pattaya yesterday caused major flooding and brought much of the resort town to a virtual standstill. The rains hit around 2pm and lasted for about 2 hours. The heaviest flooding was reported on Soi Khao Noi, Pattaya Beach Road, and Pattaya Third Road. A video of the flooding can be seen HERE. Water on some…
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Speeding car in Pattaya flips and injures 5 teenagers – VIDEO
Pattaya police are investigating an incident in which a car flipped over on motorway 7, injuring five school-age occupants. The car’s driver was allegedly speeding and lost control of the vehicle on a bend, which flipped over and landed on its roof. Multiple emergency response units arrived at the scene to attend to the injured passengers. All the occupants are…
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Russian woman allegedly kills own baby and survives suicide jump
A Russian woman has survived an apparent suicide attempt in which she jumped from a third floor balcony in Pattaya after allegedly murdering her one year old daughter. The 31 year old, named as Anna Efimova, sustained only minor injuries in the fall. The Pattaya News reports that she is undergoing treatment at a local hospital, after which she will…
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Intoxicated navy officer fatally shoots police rescuer
A police volunteer in Chon Buri province’s southern Sattahip district was fatally shot when he tried to rescue a heavily intoxicated navy officer from his flipped vehicle. A bystander was also shot and injured. Police were alerted to the incident at around 2am. When they showed up they found 33 year old Rit-rong Yasawut, fatally injured, with inebriated 23 year…
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Body of unidentified Asian man found floating off Pattaya’s Koh Sak
The body of an unidentified man has been found floating floating off Koh Sak in Pattaya Bay yesterday afternoon. Pattaya City Police were notified of the gruesome discovery about 2pm. Police and emergency responders arrived at the scene, 2 kilometres from Koh Sak. The man, of Asian descent but unknown nationality, appeared to be in his thirties, and was wearing…
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Chon Buri police hire a steam roller to destroy over 700 illegal motorbike exhausts
Since the national curfew was lifted last month, illegal motorbike racing has returned to Thailand’s streets with increased popularity. From June 20-30, police arrested more than 5,600 racers and seized more than 17,700 motorcycles nationwide. Chon Buri Police yesterday used a steam roller to very publicly crush more than 700 illegal exhaust pipes seized from road racers, known locally as…
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Crew rescued as dive boat catches fire off Pattaya – VIDEO
A boat has caught fire near Koh Larn, off the coast of Pattaya, with the captain and crew rescued by nearby boats and jet skis. A report in The Pattaya News says the fire appears to have broken out on the upper level of the “Rung Arun”, which has sustained extensive damage in the blaze. The yellow dive boat was…
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Pattaya’s Sukhawadee House burns… AGAIN – VIDEO
Pattaya’s venerable tourist attraction Sukhawadee House, a repository of Buddhist relics and artifacts, caught fire late last night, AGAIN. The second time in a day. A fire raged through the complex yesterday morning on the first day it was to reopen after closing for nearly 4 months due to the Covid-19 response. Firefighters were again notified of the second fire…
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Chon Buri police arrest knife-wielding man allegedly high on methamphetamine – VIDEO
Police in Chon Buri’s Banglamung district have arrested a 48 year old man for allegedly threatening local residents and officers with a knife. The man reportedly tested positive for methamphetamine. The captain of the Nong Prue police told The Pattaya News they arrested 48 year old Sumet Hongjaroen from the northeastern Phetchabun province. He is accused of “erratically brandishing a…
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Two men in custody after British man’s motorbike stolen in Pattaya – VIDEO
Two men are in custody, after being accused of stealing a motorbike from Jomtien Beach in Pattaya. The bike’s owner, 53 year old British national, Davidson Fraser, had parked the bike between Soi Jomtien 6 and 7, in order to go exercising. He returned sometime later to find the bike gone, so he filed a report with the Pattaya Police.…
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Beach in Chon Buri temporarily closed again due to overcrowding
Officials in the eastern province of Chon Buri have had to temporarily close the road leading to Bangsaen beach yesterday after significant overcrowding raised safety concerns. Those still trying to get to the popular beach were left disappointed during Sunday morning and early afternoon. As nearby car parks and other areas filled up with visiting vehicles, traffic police made the…
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