Phuket News
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Body believed to be western woman retrieved from water off Ranong, brought to Phuket
PHUKET: The body of a woman believed to be a westerner was found by a fishing boat off Ranong on November 30, and brought to Phuket yesterday.The woman was estimated to be 40-50 years old, about 170-180cm tall, and had white hair. She was wearing a green shirt and brown underwear when she was found, said Capt Weerachart Srira of…
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No amnesty for Phuket foreigners waiting for work permits
PHUKET: While illegal taxi, tuk-tuk and tour van drivers continue to work freely in Phuket under a government pledge of immunity from arrest, foreigners waiting for work permits will receive no such protection. In their long-accommodating efforts to encourage drivers working in the tourism industry to become legal, the provincial government has granted amnesty to all illegal transport drivers in…
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Phuket visa-run van crashes in Malaysia
PHUKET: A KBV Visa Run van that left Phuket for Penang last night collided with a motorbike in Malaysia at about 9:30 this morning. Ukrainian Dmytro Kolot, 30, was in the van and called a Russian friend in Phuket, Oleg Spitsin, to report the accident. “Dmytro was sitting next to the driver. He said the van was travelling at a…
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Patong ATM thieves caught with skimming equipment re-enact crime
PHUKET: The trio of professional thieves who were busted in Bangkok after robbing an ATM in Phuket were caught with what police believe to be ATM skimming equipment in addition to safe-cracking tools. Yesid Alexander Ledesma Gutierrez, 50, Luis Fernando Guarin Suta, 44, and Carlos Arturo Amariles Marin, 57 have all confessed to the blowtorch robbery, and took part in…
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Romanian arrested with 3kg of cocaine at Phuket Airport
PHUKET: Customs officers at Phuket International Airport arrested Romanian Pop Florin, 52, on Friday night after finding more than 3kg of cocaine in his baggage. Acting on a tip-off from the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Customs officers from Bangkok came to Phuket to assist in the arrest, Phuket Airport Customs Director Montira Cherchoo explained. “Mr Florin departed Sao Paulo,…
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Phuket protest march becomes victory parade
PHUKET: Thousands of jubilant anti-government protesters are gathered outside of the main government buildings in Phuket Town, celebrating the decision of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra earlier today to dissolve her government. The protesters, however, vow to carry on protesting until the People’s Council proposed by Suthep Thaugsuban, the former deputy prime minister and protest leader in Bangkok, is set up.…
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Colombians, Mexican arrested in Bangkok for Phuket ATM robbery
PHUKET: Three men suspected of robbing a Patong ATM last Tuesday were apprehended in Bangkok yesterday and returned to Phuket last night. Phuket Police and fellow officers from the central Bangkok district of Phayathai worked together to arrest the men, who are accused of using a blowtorch to steal almost 300,000 baht from a Thanachart ATM. Mexican Yesid Alexander Ledesma…
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Phang Nga gets jump on Phuket with high season party
PHUKET: Phang Nga kicked off its tourism high season with a colorful parade down the main street of Khao Lak to the Tsunami Memorial last night. The event comes a week ahead of the unofficial opening of the Phuket high season with the Patong Carnival (story here). The five-day festival marking the high season was ushered in by Phang Nga…
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Nine Phuket heroes due to arrive next month
PHUKET: A 50-million-baht project to honor important figures in Phuket’s history moves closer to completion next month with the arrival of nine bronze statues. The statues represent individuals important in the defense of Phuket against Burmese invaders, including the well known Phuket Heroines, sisters Thao Thepkrasattri and Thao Srisoonthorn (story here). Cast in Ang Thong province, the statues will be…
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Phuket boy, 16, murdered with throat cut and body burned in woods
PHUKET: Police are investigating the murder of a 16-year-old boy who had been stabbed multiple times and whose throat was cut before his body was dumped and burned at a wooded location in a remote part of central Phuket. Police called to the scene – on Muang Chaofa Road, about 3km from Chao Fa West Road (map here) – shortly…
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Phuket’s JLL Cricket League recommences
PHUKET: THE Phuket Cricket Group (PCG) is pleased to announce a new season of the Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) Cricket League at the Alan Cooke Ground (ACG) commencing on December 8, which will see Phuket’s local teams fight for the title. Mike Batchelor, managing director of the JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, which has been involved in some of the…
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Phuket Employment Office re-opens to process work permits
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Employment Office (PPEO), which processes work permits for foreigners, quietly reopened today. “We are now back to working normally,” PPEO Chief Yaowapa Pibulpol told the Phuket Gazette. “Our office was closed for two and a half days, from the afternoon of December 3 through the public holiday for HM The King’s birthday yesterday,” she explained. “But…
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Phuket python nabbed after exposing itself
PHUKET: Construction workers breaking the floor of a new house in order to remake it were shocked when instead of earth they saw the tail of a snake through the broken concrete. Kusoldharm foundation workers who were called to the site on Palien Road (map here), behind Provincial Hall this morning managed to capture the snake on their second attempt.…
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Garden variety motorbike arson near Phuket viewpoint
PHUKET: A motorbike was burned to a crisp near the Kata View Point on Phuket’s west coast yesterday afternoon, possibly the result of a feud between two gardeners. Karon Police responding to a 4pm call found the black skeleton of Parichat Prasertlo’s green Honda Dream about 200 meters off the coastal road near the tourist-popular scenic vantage point. Ms Parichat…
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Leaders fight to consolidate in King’s Cup before final day’s racing
PHUKET: The fleet set sail following the Royal Thai Navy sail pass on day four of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta in light rain; the first such weather pattern of this week of racing. The key element though was brisk wind which was constantly shifting direction making for a high work-rate day for all of the crew members (numbering almost…
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British tourist withdraws complaint of spiked drink in Phuket
PHUKET: The British woman who told police that she tumbled from the second storey balcony of her Phuket hotel room on November 11 because she was given a spiked drink on Soi Bangla has asked police not to pursue the case. Extensive media coverage of the night’s events, which included 21-year-old Romany Mitchell’s claim that she was escaping an assailant…
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Phuket government maintains workflow despite protest closures
PHUKET: The main government offices in charge of keeping the island’s economy ticking over have reported no major disruptions to workflow despite the more than week-long closure of Provincial Hall. Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut agreed to close Provincial Hall on November 27, acquiescing to the firm request by thousands of anti-government protesters who rallied in front of the building (story…
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Phuket Immigration vows strictness on retirement visa requirements
PHUKET: Phuket Immigration has vowed to become stricter in its enforcement of retirement visas for married couples by upholding a law that came into effect in November 2008. The law states that foreign retired couples must each show evidence of 800,000 baht in their bank accounts in order to apply for or renew retirement visas, Phuket Immigration Inspector Napat Nusen…
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CCTV shopping images set police on trail of Phuket ATM thieves
PHUKET: Police have identified the men who robbed a Phuket ATM on Tuesday and are seeking arrest warrants. Based on CCTV images from a construction material store in Thalang, Phuket Police were able to identify the men purchasing supplies for the crime, which used a blowtorch to cut the back off the ATM. “We started by looking at CCTV images…
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Patong police make appointment for drug arrests
PHUKET: The arrest of one drug user in Patong on Monday morning allowed police to make an appointment with five other druggies later in the day. Acting on the orders of Phuket’s top cop to arrest anyone suspected of drug use, officers in Patong approached Komsak Tongsin, 21, in front of a SuperCheap store on Phrabaramee Road because he “looked…
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Ray Roberts eyes fourth King’s Cup trophy after Day 2 and 3
PHUKET: Cooler weather brought slightly lower wind speeds for the third day (December 4) of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta, creating conditions that required good tactical decisions from all of the teams. In the IRC0 class, Ray Roberts’ OneSails Racing team continued their exceptional form to secure another win today in race four, and a 2nd place in race five,…
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Special Report – Thailand secretly dumps Myanmar refugees into trafficking rings
Special Report PHUKET: One afternoon in October, in the watery no-man’s land between Thailand and Myanmar, well-known to Phuket visa-runners, Muhammad Ismail vanished. Thai immigration officials said he was being deported to Myanmar. In fact, they sold Ismail, 23, and hundreds of other Rohingya to human traffickers, who then spirited them into brutal jungle camps. As thousands of Rohingya flee…
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Phuket ATM thieves leave B1.4mn in the machine
PHUKET: Thieves who used a blowtorch to break into an ATM in Patong early yesterday morning made off with 220,000 baht, but left 1.4 million baht in the machine. The robbery, at the Thanachart ATM opposite Loma Park on the beach road (map here), took place at 4am, said Patong Police Superintendent Chiraphat Pochanaphan. “The machine contained 1.7 million baht,…
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Phuket honors HM The King with gala event
PHUKET: Leading Phuket officials, honorary consuls, prominent business people, notable dignitaries and social figures from across the island gathered at Phuket Rajabhat University last night to honor HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej for his 86th birthday. The event, which was open to the public, was held at the university’s main conference hall. All guests arrived in splendid formal attire or traditional…
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No arrests for work permit delays caused by protests
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Employment Office (PPEO), responsible for issuing work permits to foreigners on the island, remains closed today, but those with work permits set to expire or in process need not fear arrest, PPEO chief Yaowapa Pibulpol told the Phuket Gazette this morning. “At this stage we are not sure when we can re-open the office, but all…
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Phuket beach community honors His Majesty
PHUKET: Hundreds of locals from Phuket’s Cherng Talay beach community turned out in force on Saturday to join a cycling and beach cleanup event to celebrate the 86th birthday of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej on December 5. Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut officiated the opening of the event, organized by the Cherng Talay Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor), before leading the merit-making…
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Conflicting reports of coral damage at popular Phuket dive site
PHUKET: Many members of the Phuket diving industry stand at odds with the Phuket Marine Biological Center’s (PMBC) assessment of damage to corals at Racha Yai caused by a storm that lashed the region late last month.“The storm that day [November 23] was not the first time corals in the area have been damaged by inclement weather,” PMBC Director Ukkrit…
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Phuket marine life honored to celebrate HM King’s birthday
PHUKET: More than 500,000 marine animals were released in Phuket on Sunday to celebrate the 86th birthday of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej on December 5. Among the animals were over 100 brownbanded bamboo sharks, released as part of an effort to rebuild declining shark numbers in Thai seas. Five species of shark were added to the Endangered Species list at…
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Russian tourists rescued from drowning at Patong Beach
PHUKET: Life guards at Patong Beach rescued two Russian men from drowning within 10 minutes of each other yesterday. Vladimir Himonov, 67, was rescued from the surf in front of the Ocean Plaza shopping center (map here) at 11am. “Life guards saw Mr Himonov swimming about 200 meters from shore. They realized that the Russian tourist was struggling in the…
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Phuket Poll: Millions of more tourists are on their way, but why do they come?
PHUKET: As the tourism high season looms nigh, Phuket residents and business folk are readying themselves for another record-setting onslaught of tourists to see the new year in. Right on cue, the Phuket Carnival “Fun Fest”, the island’s annual week-long party to unofficially mark the beginning of the high season, will start on December 15 (story here). Even before the…
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.
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