Phuket News
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Suarez faces another ban after biting Italian defender
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Suarez faces another ban after biting Italian defender Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Uruguay striker Luis Suarez looks almost certain to be banned from the World Cup for the second successive tournament after he bit Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini on the shoulder during his team’s 1-0 win…
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Colombia crush Japan 4-1 and next face Uruguay
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Colombia crush Japan 4-1 and next face Uruguay Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Colombia striker Jackson Martinez scored twice as they thrashed Japan 4-1 to maintain their 100 percent record and claim top spot in Group C on Tuesday to set up a mouthwatering second-round clash…
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Phuket visa runners caught in “cash only’ immigration scare
PHUKET: A van full of foreigners returning to Phuket from a visa run to Penang were delayed at the Malaysian border for more than two and a half hours today as Thai immigration officers demanded that they all present large amounts of cash to confirm that they each had enough money to fund their stay in Thailand. Any foreigners who…
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New crowd-sourced data shows Phuket yacht sighting, MH370 flight path correlate
PHUKET: Crowd-sourced research plotting the projected flight path of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 by using data from Inmarsat satellites may have confirmed that a British woman sailing from India to Phuket spotted the ill-fated flight over the Andaman Sea. British sailor Katherine Tee, 41, was sailing from Cochin, India to Phuket with her husband when on March 7 she…
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Hazardous rip currents force closures of popular Phuket beaches
PHUKET: Dangerous rip currents at Kata and Karon have forced lifeguards to rope off sections of the beaches in an effort to keep swimmers from entering the most hazardous areas of surf today. “Nobody should swim in the sea right now, the water is extremely dangerous,” Uten Singsom, Kata-Karon chief lifeguard, told the Phuket Gazette this morning. Other areas of…
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Krabi nursery school invaded by mysterious, smelly, burning bugs
PHUKET: An attack of mysterious bugs at a Krabi nursery school has frightened teachers and students and may cause the students to be moved out. The black bugs, about one centimeter long, have a putrid smell and cause a burning sensation when touched, Piyawan Chamnongrak, a teacher at the school, told the Phuket Gazette. “They appeared yesterday afternoon, from where…
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Neymar inspires Brazil, Dutch storm on at World Cup
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Neymar inspires Brazil, Dutch storm on at World Cup Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Brazil’s poster-boy striker Neymar fulfilled a nation’s expectations to score twice in a 4-1 destruction of Cameroon on Monday while the Netherlands again showed their potential to win the World Cup with…
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Phuket police slap seahorse, illegal coral vendor with conservation lesson
PHUKET: A vendor selling several pieces of illegal black coral jewellery in a Sea Gypsy village in Phuket was given a stern warning and a lesson on conservation Saturday afternoon. “We got a tip-off about the vendor near Rawai Pier, and asked Chalong Police officers to check it out,” Tanet Munnoy, chief of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources…
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Flooding delays Phuket underpass trial run
PHUKET: The trial opening of Phuket’s first underpass, at the Darasamuth Intersection on the bypass road, will not begin until at least next month, the Phuket Gazette has learned. The 600-million-baht underpass, located beside the Central Festival Phuket shopping mall, missed its mid-May trial deadline after heavy rains flooded the road’s not yet complete drainage system. “The water pumps were…
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Aussie surf safety expert to teach how to survive Phuket’s deadly rip currents
International specialist on rip currents and beach safety Associate Professor Robert Brander will stage a dramatic visual demonstration of the power of rip currents at Phuket’s deadliest stretch of sand, Karon Beach, this Thursday. Dr Brander is a coastal geomorphologist and senior lecturer at the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of New South Wales in…
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Slip on Phuket rocks costs fisherman his life
PHUKET: A man fishing on rocks at Laem Sing promontory, on Phuket’s west coast, slipped and fell to his death yesterday afternoon. Sakorn Lamnaonan, 35, had taken a neighbor’s 10-year-old son to fish with him at about noon, Lt Prasert Thongprom of Kamala Police told the Phuket Gazette. “It was very windy and big waves were washing over the rocks,…
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Phuket Airport Bus plan to use van drivers reveals the road ahead
PHUKET: The chief official in charge of drafting key policy changes affecting Phuket’s public transport has revealed that he will present a request for an airport bus operator to hire van drivers to deliver tourists from Phuket International Airport directly to the taxi-mafia hotbed of Kata-Karon. Jaturong Kaewkasi, the chief policy adviser at the Phuket Land Transport Office, confirmed to…
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Phuket storms prompt flash flood, landslide warnings
PHUKET: Scattered thunderstorms and isolated downpours forecast for today through Wednesday have prompted disaster officials to issue flash flood and landslide warnings for risk areas throughout Phuket. “We issued a warning to every local administration in Phuket to watch out for flash floods and landslides and to be prepared to respond to emergencies in their areas,” Department of Disaster Prevention…
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Last-gasp equalizer keeps Portugal World Cup hopes alive
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Last-gasp equalizer keeps Portugal World Cup hopes alive Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Portuguese substitute Silvestre Varela grabbed a dramatic stoppage-time equalizer to secure a 2-2 draw with the United States in World Cup Group G on Sunday. Just as it looked as though the Americans…
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Police nab 22 young racers on motorbikes
PHUKET: A late-night teenage motorcycle race was nipped in the bud last night after local residents tipped off Phuket City Police after reading about the event in a Facebook post. “Local residents called yesterday afternoon and told officers about a race that was planned – as advertised on Facebook – for 10pm last night,” said Maj Rattaket Munmuang of the…
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Krabi tourist dies after sunbathing on beach
PHUKET: A tourist was pronounced dead on arrival at Krabi Hospital yesterday after other tourists found her unconscious on Ao Nang Beach with waves washing over her body. Thidarat Roh, 37, from Yasothon province in Northeastern Thailand, was sunbathing by herself when the tide came in and washed over her, witnesses told Lt Pithak Wongdet of Krabi City Police. “Beachgoers…
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Brit expat takes out power pole in high-speed crash, escapes with life
PHUKET: A British expat managed to escape life-threatening injury early this morning after a high-speed collision with a power pole in Koh Kaew left his Toyota Fortuner destroyed and the pole in a pile of rubble. Maj Kittiphum Tinthalang of the Thalang Police was notified of the accident on Thepkrasattri Road northbound, about 100 meters south of the Tah Rua…
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Korean woman jumps bail in B10mn Phuket fraud case, swept up 3 years later
PHUKET: A Korean woman who was wanted for jumping bail in a 10-million-baht fraud case three years ago was swept up today in a National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) campaign to rid Phuket of crime. Lee Mikyong, 48, was arrested at a Korean restaurant on Chao Fa West Road in Wichit at about 11am, Phuket Immigration Inspector Tianchai…
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British embassy rolls out passport extensions
PHUKET: The British Embassy in Bangkok has announced that it will begin conducting appointments on Monday so that British nationals in need of an extension to their current passport can be issued them. Her Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) in London is dealing with the highest demand for passports in 12 years and has issued more than three million passports so…
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Mother wanted for abducting own British-Thai children believed to be in Phuket
PHUKET: The mother wanted for abducting her two British-Thai daughters from their natural father in Pattaya is believed to be heading to Phuket. On Tuesday, Pattaya Police were issued an arrest warrant for 36-year-old Onwarat Gamlem, who is the non-custodial mother of the children. The warrant orders police officers around the country to arrest Ms Onwarat on charges of child…
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South African arrested for running ATM card scam in Phuket
PHUKET: Police arrested a South African in possession of 72 bank cards early this morning for allegedly skimming ATMs at popular tourist beach towns along Phuket’s west coast. “Manquba Parker Ngcobo, from the Republic of South Africa, was identified as a suspected ATM skimmer after a police investigation revealed that he had been withdrawing money using multiple bank cards in…
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Spoonful of MSG still stirs up fear in Phuket
Special Report Entire websites are devoted to warnings about monosodium glutamate (MSG). Its detractors claim that it causes cancer, headaches, palpitations, excessive neurological excitement, hair loss and more.Is it really not good for us? What are the facts? The Phuket Gazette‘s Leslie Porterfield reports. PHUKET: MSG was first produced in 1908 by Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda, who wanted to identify…
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Armed Navy personnel lead 200-strong Phuket land raid
PHUKET: More than 200 officers under armed escort by Royal Thai Navy personnel arrested five suspects for violent intimidation of villagers in Phuket’s Soi Palai area early this morning. The three-hour raid, which began before dawn, targeted a gang of about 20 men who attacked 14 local villagers’ homes yesterday and destroyed property in broad daylight. Police and Navy officers…
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Phuket one-stop yacht shop set to open, for real, July 1
PHUKET: Phuket’s long-awaited 70-million-baht one-stop yacht shop, dubbed the Phuket Yacht Control Center (PYCC), is set to officially open on July 1 after two years of delays. Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut confirmed the opening date yesterday. “PYCC will be Phuket’s official check-in point for incoming and outgoing foreign yachts. Additionally, it will ensure effective vessel-traffic management and monitoring; prevent smuggling…
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Ukrainian ‘Pedo Heaven’ expat arrested in Phuket gets 30 years for child porn
PHUKET: Ukrainian Maksym Shynkarenko, arrested in Phuket in 2009, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison on child pornography charges. Shynkarenko, 35, pleaded guilty to starting and operating a hard-core child pornography website for three years, for which a federal judge in New Jersey on Tuesday sentenced him to three decades in prison, reported Reuters. In January, Shynkarenko admitted…
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Police ramp up Phuket taxi mafia money laundering probe, identify targets in Patong
PHUKET: Officers from the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) will join the police investigation into taxi drivers who are possibly laundering money, as the Phuket taxi mafia crackdown continues with officers focusing their efforts on Patong. “We recently contacted AMLO and confirmed that a team from their office will come to Phuket this month to assist in our investigation,” Maj Gen…
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Phuket residents rail against Kata beachfront land stake
PHUKET: More than 100 Phuket residents gathered for three hours yesterday to halt the construction of a fence along Kata Beach, on land adjacent to Club Med Phuket, arguing that it was encroaching on public land. “We don’t understand how someone can build on this land; it is along the beachfront,” said Karon resident Wichit Yaowarot. “We want officials to…
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Police say leads exhausted in death of 7-year-old Nong Dear
PHUKET: The investigation into the death of a seven-year-old girl whose body was found dismembered in a Chalong forest late last year has reached a standstill. Nong Dear disappeared on her way home from a relative’s house on December 6 (story here) and her remains were found in a nearby wood on December 19 (story here). “This is a very…
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Turtles wash ashore in high seas
PHUKET: Two sea turtles that washed ashore at Mai Khao Beach during recent rough weather are being treated at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC). “A Hawksbill was found on June 11 and an Olive Ridley was found yesterday,” said Kittipan Supkoon of the Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation (click here). “The Hawksbill is about 8-10 years old and 40…
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Champions Spain crash out of World Cup
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Champions Spain crash out of World Cup, Dutch march on Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Holders Spain crashed out of the World Cup on Wednesday with barely a fight after their second shock defeat while 2010 runners-up the Netherlands continued their perfect start with another high-scoring…
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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