Phuket News
Phuket news, politics, business, tourism, and nightlife—stay updated with breaking stories, events, and expat updates from Thailand’s top island destination. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Phuket news source.
-
Sponsored Limited-time deal: Save 20% on Cigna's expat health plans forever
Starting a new life abroad is exciting—new culture, new lifestyle, and new chances to grow. But living far from home also means taking steps to protect your health in unfamiliar surroundings. Without the right coverage, even small health issues can...
-
Phuket Drama: Yingluck monitor lizard fiasco averted
PHUKET: The bloated carcass of a monitor lizard was hastily retrieved from a swamp at Klong Koh Pee in Phuket on Monday, just moments before the arrival of Thai premier Yingluck Shinawatra, it can now be revealed. Prime Minister Yingluck and her entourage were scheduled to arrive at the Saphan Hin side of the proposed Klong Koh Pee elevated road…
-
Special Report: Will more power solve Patong’s woes?
PHUKET: Mayor Pian Keesin has publicly declared his stand on the need for Patong to become a Special Administrative Zone (click here). His call for the administrative change received a great deal of support at a public meeting held recently to present and explain the concept to local residents and business people. The meeting was coordinated through Patong Municipality and…
-
Cabinet closes with Southern protest
PHUKET: The mobile Cabinet meeting headed by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra drew to a close yesterday to the sound of another protest. Under the banner of the “Southern Network”, the protesters gathered outside the meeting venue at the Prince of Songkla University (PSU) Phuket Campus in Kathu. The group had traveled from Satun, Songkhla and Chumphon provinces to call for…
-
Cabinet approves Bt200mn for Phuket mangrove flyover
PHUKET: Cabinet today approved 200 million baht to build an elevated road over a mangrove forest on the outskirts of Phuket Town. The project, best known as the Klong Koh Pee project, has been on hold for 15 years. The announcement, made by Deputy Government Spokesman Anusorn Iamsa-ard at about midday, followed a morning session of meetings at the Prince…
-
“Naughty’ clouded leopard caught, set free north of Phuket
PHUKET: A clouded leopard was captured over the weekend after a dip into the poultry-house on Thanyamundra’s organic farm in Phang Nga, which produces much of the chemical-free produce served in Phuket.Security guard Surasit Wangphakam was responsible for the capture. Hearing chickens “clucking loudly” inside the poultry-house, he looked inside to discover a female cloud leopard “playing” with the chickens.Fifteen…
-
PM Yingluck hounded into Southern healthcare issues
PHUKET: Joining the long list of groups petitioning Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for special attention during her first official visit to Phuket for today’s Cabinet meeting was a delegation of doctors, nurses and medical students from Songklanagarind Hospital in Haad Yai. PM Yingluck arrived at the Prince of Songkla University (PSU) Phuket Campus at 8:30am to attend the Cabinet meeting…
-
Chalerm in Phuket: Police to focus on drugs, not closing times
PHUKET: Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung told top regional police officers yesterday that strict enforcement of closing times at bar and pubs was not the top priority in tourist destinations such as Phuket because visitors come here to enjoy the natural scenery, not the nightlife. Deputy PM Chalerm, himself a police captain, delivered his mandate to an assembly of top-ranking…
-
PM Yingluck in Phuket: Senators pitch ‘special economic zone’ plan
PHUKET: On the first day of the mobile Cabinet meeting yesterday, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra held closed door talks with local tourism industry leaders who urged her to establish Phuket as a special economic zone. The unscheduled talks, which were off-limits to reporters, saw PM Yingluck meet with Phuket Senator Thanyarat “Ghee” Achariyachai, who chairs the Senate Standing Committee…
-
Man slashes own throat over broken heart
PHUKET: Relatives of a suspected broken-hearted man heard screaming from the fourth floor of a commercial shophouse where he lived and ran up to investigate. The man, whose name the Phuket Gazette is withholding, attempted to commit suicide in the shophouse off Montri Road by slashing his own throat, according to the local Thai-language newspaper Siangtai Daily. Police were immediately…
-
Phuket Sports: Steady start for FC Phuket in season opener
PHUKET: Reinforced by an energetic contingent of loyal fan support, FC Phuket opened their 2012 Thai Yamaha 1 League (TPL Division 1) season on Saturday evening against JW Rangsit FC with a scoreless draw.The evenly matched contest was played at Rangsit’s temporary ground, Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy Stadium in Nakhon Nayok province, 70 kilometers northeast of Rangsit.Rangsit’s planned home pitch…
-
Woman dies in water-well plunge
PHUKET: Phuket City Police are trying to identify the body of a woman found at the bottom of a water well in Phuket Town yesterday afternoon. Police were notified about the body by residents of the Bor Nam Community, located off Amphur Road on the east side of Phuket Town, the local Thai-language newspaper Siangtai Daily reported today. It took…
-
Phuket Live Wire: The next iPad is here
PHUKET: The cat’s out of the bag, and at this very moment the first “new” iPads are on store shelves in the US, Australia, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore and Switzerland. While you may think of it as an iPad 3.0, at this point the official name is “The New iPad.” Apple hasn’t yet set a price for…
-
Phuket Sports: Drama galore in Fair Play League finals
PHUKET: The Phuket Fair Play League 2012 reached a dramatic conclusion to the season at Youth Football Home (YFH) in Thalang after eight weeks of competitive matches. Players in U14 and U11 divisions from all over the island showed skill and sportsmanship throughout this latest season proving the value and title of this competition. As with all hotly contested tournaments,…
-
Phuket Sports: TSLC take Division One title
PHUKET: Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club (TSLC) hosted another action filled evening of the Adult Futsal League on Thursday with one Premier Division match and two First Division games on the card. Honda’s season didn’t improve suffering a 6-0 drubbing at the hands of league leaders Portrait FC. Pace and clinical finishing were the difference between the two sides, leaving…
-
Phuket sea gypsies mob Thai PM, plead for rights
PHUKET: Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra arrived at Phuket Airport this morning to be greeted by some 2,000 people protesting the need to protect their land usage rights and preserve traditional livelihoods. The protesters, who collectively call themselves “PMOVE” (short for “Peoples’ Movement”), comprise sea gypsies and members of other landless communities from across the country. In addition to the many…
-
Phuket Sports: Super Six league heats up
PHUKET: Super Six League’s latest round of matches at Headstart International School’s Football Island kicked off with a top of the table battle between Phuket Serenity Villas (PSV) and Morning Star. Both teams attempted to gain control of the game from the outset, but Morning Star proved the more inventive in attack and had a four goal advantage going into…
-
Coastal development destroying reefs off Phuket
– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Coastal development destroying reefs off Phuket PHUKET (The Nation): Massive land development in Phuket province will be strictly controlled by environmental regulations after findings that large amounts of sediment caused by construction has destroyed a large area of coral reefs and marine ecosystems. Over 250 square kilometers of coral…
-
Man fights for life after Phuket motorbike crash
PHUKET: A man is in critical condition after his motorbike was hit by a car at a u-turn on Thepkrasattri Road in Phuket early yesterday morning. Thalang Police were notified of the accident just after midnight. Arriving at the scene, the northbound lane of Thepkrasattri road about one kilometer south of the new Tesco Thalang shopping mall, they found Apichet…
-
Owner confesses to working elephant to death, mutilating carcass
PHUKET: The owner of the elephant found mutilated in Krabi on Thursday has confessed to working the animal to death. Local villagers had discovered the gruesome remains, now identified as that of 49-year-old elephant Plai Boonam. The front of the head had been hacked off and the elephant’s tusk was missing. In response, Krabi Muang District Chief Yutisak Akeakkara and…
-
Finnish tourist behind bars after Phi Phi pub row
PHUKET: A Finnish tourist is being held at Krabi Provincial Prison pending charges of causing bodily harm after he allegedly struck a female bar manager over the head with a beer bottle just south of Phuket on Phi Phi Island.Ms Saen Chinno (originally reported as “Jeen-no”), the 29-year-old manager of Breakers Bar on Phi Phi Island, suffered a serious head…
-
Phuket baby elephant probe hinges on DNA maternity tests
PHUKET: Officers who led the raids on three elephant camps in Phuket late last month are back on the island to continue their investigation into whether all the elephants at all three camps were legally obtained. The investigation focuses on three camps: the ATV @ Hill Adventure Tour camp on the road to the Big Buddha image in Chalong; the…
-
Phuket Customs seizes Bt20mn in illegal diesel
PHUKET: Phuket custom officials have raided a Malaysian ship and seized about 100,000 liters of illegally imported diesel fuel near Koh Racha Noi. The fuel on the Singa Maju, estimated to be worth more than 20 million baht, was being sold to fishing ships in the area. Following a tip off, customs officials, led by Rakop Srisupaat, Chief of the…
-
FC Phuket set sail for season opener
FC Phuket’s roller coaster end to last season will take a back seat today as they lock themselves in for a nosedive into their 2012-2013 Thai Premier League (TPL) season against JW Rangsit.Their season opener will be played at the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy Stadium in Nakhon Nayok, Pathum Thani with kickoff at 4pm.It will certainly be an interesting encounter…
-
Phuket sets heavy security for PM Yingluck Cabinet visit
PHUKET: Phuket will be under a high-level security crackdown ahead of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s visit for the Cabinet meeting on Monday and Tuesday. The news came at a meeting of Royal Thai Armed Forces intelligence staff with Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha at Phuket Provincial Hall. Also at the meeting to discuss the security plan were Phuket Provincial Police Commander…
-
Phuket bus crash victims all safe
Pic 1: Patong Hill Bus crashCUT400 PHUKET: Wichean Tungjit, the 25-year-old Phuket tuk-tuk driver involved in this morning’s bus crash on Patong Hill, was diagnosed by doctors as having a mild concussion, but not a fractured skull, as was originally feared. Mr Wichean was among the 10 people rushed to Patong Hospital after the accident, which happened at about 6:50am.…
-
Phuket Gazette: Elephant butchered in Krabi
PHUKET: Livestock officials in Krabi are investigating the death of a male elephant found partially decapitated on a remote hilltop rubber plantation in Khao Khraam District yesterday afternoon, the Phuket Gazette has learned. The discovery of the carcass was reported to the Gazette by Khao Khram tambon chief Karim Laklaeng at about 2pm yesterday. [Reader discretion advised. Some readers may…
-
Phuket MICE tourists in Patong bus crash
PHUKET: Another bus full of passengers in Phuket, this time for a seminar, crashed into a house at the bottom of Patong Hill this morning. Nine of the passengers were taken to Patong Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. Lt Thanakrit Kiawyai of Patong Police told the Phuket Gazette that the accident happened at about 6:50am. “The bus had about…
-
Phuket Land Office voices support for corruption probe
PHUKET: The chief of the Phuket Land Department has voiced support for the ongoing investigation into allegations that corrupt government officials colluded with private investors to have land title deeds issued on state land. “The investigation by the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission [PACC] into illegally-issued land documents in Phuket will serve as a deterrent to other people who might be…
-
Phuket drug duo arrest lands Bt1mn haul
PHUKET: Phuket Police arrested a husband and wife who they say were found in possession of drugs with an estimated street value of more than one million baht. Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha announced the arrests at Phuket City Hall today, adding that a total of seven people were arrested in two separate police operations during the past week. At the…
-
Myanmar rushes headlong into brave new world
SPECIAL REPORTPHUKET: The Japanese salary-man’s blue suit brushed past the backpacker’s Bob Marley t-shirt as they passed in the guest house hallway.“No rooms. Fully booked,” said the desk clerk.The Japanese man was on his way to shore up a lease on a garment factory and the Irish backpacker was here in Myanmar to see the wonders of Inle Lake and…
Phuket is a province in the south of Thailand. Phuket's beaches face the Andaman Sea allowing the west coast beaches fantastic sunsets right throughout the year. If you're looking for news in Phuket, go to thethaiger.com/phuket Or follow our instant news in our Facebook pages.
The good news is that Phuket is famous for its foodie scene with an enormously diverse range of local and international foods - Phuket and southern favorites, street food along with international choices catering for the 12 million visitors to the island each year. Thaiger follows Phuket news and information 24 hours a day with regular updates.
Phuket is only 'just' an island with a 300 metre bridge linking it to Thailand's mainland. We're always reporting in the news that the channel beneath is frequently dredged to maintain Phuket's status as an island. On the other side of Sarasin Bridge is the Province of Phang Nga.
Getting to Phuket is easy as the island has land, air and sea connections. Phuket is also used as a take-off point for local island trips as Thailand's largest island is surrounded by over 30 pristine islands. Koh Phi Phi and the famous Maya Bay are always in the news and would be the best known of the island's just off Phuket's shores.
Phuket is an island and a province. It's the largest island in Thailand – 48 km north to south, 21 km east to west.
It's about 20% smaller, in area, than Singapore but much less densely populated. Whilst the island nation of Singapore boasts a population of nearly 6 million, Phuket has a permanent population of around 400-450,000 (but varies a lot with the influx of tourists and a workforce that is always changing). Most of Phuket remains jungle and tropical rainforest despite an acceleration of development over the past 20 years.
Unlike some of Thailand's other popular islands (that are in the Gulf of Thailand), the news is that Phuket is located in the Andaman Sea.
Phuket is 878 km north of the equator.
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.