Phuket News
Discover the latest news and updates from Thailand’s most famous and beautiful island, The Thaiger’s hometown, having previously operated as the Phuket Gazette.
Our team brings you breaking news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive stories from Phuket, covering everything from local politics and business to lifestyle and tourism. Learn about the island’s stunning beaches, vibrant nightlife, and thriving expat community, as well as keeping updated on events, and attractions.
The Thaiger is your ultimate guide to staying connected with Phuket’s ever-evolving landscape. To keep up with the most reliable news source on the island, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media.
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Bus driver, allegedly on drugs, injures 20 students
PHANG NGA: A bus driver transporting tour guide students is suspected of being high on drugs when he lost control of his vehicle, flipping it and slamming into trees on the roadside. The bus was carrying 35 students from Far Eastern University in Chiang Rai on their way to participate in a training course for tour guides in Phuket, Phang…
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“We’re not mafia,’ say Phuket taxi drivers
PHUKET: Phuket taxi drivers denied any mafia behavior, or association with any mafia organizations, at a meeting with Dussadee Arayawuthi, deputy permanent secretary for the Justice Ministry, on Friday. Kata-Karon taxi drivers joined beach vendors and other locals airing their grievances at the meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall. “We were following the established rules. We don’t understand why we are…
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Phuket Zoo stonewalls orangutan investigators
PHUKET: Phuket Zoo management is stonewalling officials investigating the case of Milo, a 13-year-old orangutan. “The Zoo manager, Surapong Chanthaweewong, has refused to answer any questions with regard to how the orangutan was obtained, cared for, or ‘released into the wild’,” said Piyawat Sukhon, chief of the Khao Phra Thaeo Non-hunting Zone. “He simply told us that we should continue…
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SUP champion comes to teach paddling in Phuket
PHUKET: Champion standup paddleboarder and founder of the Stand Up Paddle Athletes Association (SUPAA), Chase Kosterlitz, starts a five-day standup paddleboard (SUP) clinic tomorrow. “Chase has a wealth of paddling knowledge and has competed at the elite level for a number of years. His depth of paddling experience and his ability to teach offers a great opportunity to learn. Whether…
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Aussie expat adventurer undertakes record-setting row across Atlantic
PHUKET: Australian head coach at Phuket’s Unit 27, Luke Richmond, has joined a team of three extraordinary adventurers as they attempt to set a Guinness World Record by rowing more than 6,000km of open sea, travelling from Portugal to Brazil. Mr Richmond – already in peak condition from incorporating a NeuroPhysics training program from Ken Ware into his weekly schedule…
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Justice Ministry promises probe Phuket vendors’ grievances
PHUKET: About 300 Karon residents and business operators crowded into a meeting room at Phuket Provincial Hall Friday morning to air their grievances about beach regulations. Karon Beach vendors told Dussadee Arayawuthi, deputy permanent secretary of the Justice Ministry, that they were badly affected by the beach regulating policies implemented within the past two years. “Look at Pattaya, where beach…
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Video Report: Orangutan saved, new laws needed
PHUKET: Last week’s rescue of the Phuket Zoo orangutan, Milo, led to a firestorm of social and political activity bolstering efforts to close legal loopholes abused by exotic animal traders in Thailand. An amendment to the Wildlife Preservation and Protection Act BE 2535 (1992) that will require those who posses animals named on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered…
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500-strong police force arrests Krabi squatters
KRABI: About 500 Krabi police officers joined a mass raid to arrest about 100 oil palm squatters on Thursday. “We surrounded the area to check on the squatters who were trying to claim the land as their own after the previous owner’s license expired,” said Plai Phraya Police Superintendent Chamnan Chamnankij. “These people were still living on the plantation after…
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Officials investigate Kamala Beach encroachment allegations
PHUKET: Officials are looking into allegations that vendors at Kamala Beach are encroaching beyond the ’10-percent zone’, which was established to restrict commercial activities to a small portion of the popular Phuket beach. An anonymous tip-off from a Phuket expat alleged that beach chairs, umbrellas, food stalls and tents have spread beyond the demarcation poles of the 10-percent zone. Photographic…
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Cobra takes stand in Phuket bathroom
PHUKET: It was fright night yesterday for a woman in Phuket Town when she was confronted by a two-meter-long cobra that had taken up residence in her bathroom. The woman entered the room at about 11:30pm without switching on the light. In the darkness, she heard a slithering and hissing sound behind her. When she did turn the light on,…
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Patong awaits bid to bury beachfront cables
PHUKET: The project that will see unsightly power cables along Patong’s beachfront moved underground is awaiting finalization of the bidding process. The 230-million-baht project will be jointly funded by the Phuket Provincial Electric Authority (PEA) and the Patong Municipality (story here). “Contractors have submitted their bids to the PEA headquarters in Bangkok and one will be chosen by March,” confirmed…
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National balloon and music festival coming to Phuket
PHUKET: Hot air balloons will be filling the sky above the island during the Songkran holiday this April for the very first ‘Phuket Thailand Balloon Music Festival’. At least 20 hot air balloons are expected to take part in the national balloon fiesta, to be held April 14-17 at Phuket Paradise Park, near the British International School Phuket (BISP). Balloon…
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Breaking News: Stickup artist robs Phuket bank
PHUKET: Police are scrambling to track down an armed bank robber who made off with an estimated 400,000 baht cash from a Phuket bank this afternoon. The masked man walked into the Krungthai Bank branch on Sakdidet Road in Phuket Town, drawing his gun and demanding cashiers hand over all easily accessible cash. “We are currently checking CCTV footage and…
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Formula 1 powerboat race coming to Phuket
PHUKET: The Ministry of Tourism and Sports (MOTS) has good news for water-sport enthusiasts as Phuket plans to host a Formula 1 powerboat race in November to promote the island as an international tourist and water-sport destination. “This is a joint venture between Thailand and Singapore. The expected date of the event is November 4-6,” MOTS Phuket Office Director Santi…
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Phuket officials confirm no troubled waters for bridge players
PHUKET: Phuket police have confirmed that playing bridge in Phuket is not illegal as long as there is no gambling involved. The confirmation follows reports of police and military officers raiding a bridge club earlier this month in Pattaya, which led to the arrest of 32 foreigners, including an 84-year-old Dutch woman (story here). “I was unaware of the arrests…
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Teens steal motorbikes from police station
KRABI: Six young men were arrested on Wednesday night for stealing motorbikes from the Krabi City Police Station to chop and sell as spare parts. Four of the six were minors – 16 and 17 years old. The other two suspects were named as Sarawut Chinsri, 20, and Jakkapong Nonsri, 18. “I first noticed that a motorbike from the impound…
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Phuket fears motor home stampede
PHUKET: Nearly a dozen motor homes and recreational vehicles (RVs) recently spotted on the island prompted officials to rethink regulations for such vehicles entering Thailand. “I was told that these vehicles stay over night in public places, such as Saphan Hin, Ya Nui and Nai Yang beaches,” said Phuket Vice Governor Prajiad Aksornthammakul at a meeting on Wednesday. “I’m worried…
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Maimed Phi Phi divers return to Russia
KRABI: Two Russian divers who were seriously injured in a speedboat accident earlier this month have safely returned home, confirmed a Krabi official. Sergei Dmitriev, 30, and Dmitry Kurynov, 48, were diving near Maya Bay on February 5 when they were hit by a speedboat, causing one diver to lose his leg and the other to suffer serious injuries (story…
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Delivery truck downs power lines, throws rider over wall
PHUKET: A fish delivery truck left a trail of destruction down a back road in Rassada yesterday morning when the high-sided vehicle snagged overhead power lines and pulled down a row of five electricity poles like dominoes. Meanwhile, the oblivious driver charged down the road towards his depot. Caught up in the entanglement and lucky to escape serious injury was…
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Phuket Vice Gov steps in to take charge of Sirinath case
PHUKET: Officials confirmed on Tuesday that initial investigations indicate that only 27 of the 715 much-disputed plots of Sirinath National Park land have been proven legal, said Phuket Vice Governor Chokdee Amornwat. The vice governor spoke with a committee, comprised of experts and officials, formed to investigate and resolve issues surrounding the national park’s land disputes. The committee was set…
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Hit-and-run driver kills Indian man in Phuket
PHUKET: Police are hunting the driver of a fuel-transport truck who fled the scene after killing an Indian man in Phuket last night. “Cheriya Parambil Johi, 40, sustained a serious head injury in a motorbike crash on the bypass road and was pronounced dead at the scene. The other passenger, Thai national Veera Morthong, 28, was also seriously injured,” said…
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Car-bomb suspect arrested after 16 years on the run
PHUKET: A man wanted in connection with a car bombing in Patong more than 16 years ago was arrested at his home in Trang yesterday. Police were acting on an arrest warrant issued in May 2003 by the Phuket Provincial Court following a car-bomb attack that seriously injured three people outside of a gold shop in 1999. Police officers from…
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Teen driver kills two teachers, injures head monk
KRABI: A 17-year-old was charged with reckless driving causing death after the car he was driving collided with a van, killing two teachers and severely injuring a head monk in Krabi yesterday afternoon. Three teachers from Kanchanapisek Wittayalai School, as well as Phra Kru Sri Thammawutti, head of Wat Phokha Chuthamas and Lord Abbot of Muang Krabi District Buddhist Monastery,…
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German cancer patient dies in Phuket fall
PHUKET: A German man died after falling from the balcony of his seventh-floor condo room in Phuket yesterday evening. “Karl Geier, 76, was reportedly living alone at the building on Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Road,” said Lt Col Jetsada Saengsuree of the Patong Police. “There were no signs of a struggle or robbery in his room.” Police questioned a number of…
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Aussie survives Phuket balcony fall
PHUKET: A conscious Australian tourist was rushed to hospital after falling from the third-floor balcony of a Patong hotel just after midnight today. “Jonann Petschauer, 65, fell off the balcony attached to his room and through a glass ceiling at Charm Resort Phuket,” said Lt Col Anukul Nuket of the Patong Police. Mr Petschauer was on holiday with Jacqi Lillian…
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Bodies of two missing canoers found in Rassada
PHUKET: Rescue workers this morning recovered the bodies of two men who had been missing since their canoe capsized near Koh Sireh on Sunday. “The body of Mat Panthip, 51, was found floating near Ruen Talay Seafood restaurant in Rassada at about 9:30am,” said Phuket Marine Police Chief Panya Chaichana. “About two hours later, we found the body of Laong…
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British backpacker found safe and well in Krabi
PHUKET: Police in Krabi have tracked down a 21-year-old British woman who disappeared for six days while travelling in Thailand, prompting a social media frenzy to help find her. Krabi Tourist Police confirmed that they found Ms Taylor at Krabi International Airport earlier today. Tourist police stayed with her to ensure her safety, while awaiting the arrival of a family…
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King cobra killed after raiding camp
PHUKET: A three-meter-long king cobra was killed after attempting to sneak into a workers’ camp in Paklok yesterday afternoon. Snake catchers from the Kusoldharm Rescue Foundation rushed to the camp after receiving a report about the deadly reptile, but by the time they arrived on the scene, the camp’s occupants had already dealt with the snake their own way. “By…
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Calls for closure of Phuket Zoo
PHUKET: Milo, the female orangutan at the center of a wildlife furore, is recovering in the Phang Nga Wildlife Nursery Station after being rescued late on Saturday (story here). Wildlife activist Edwin Wiek said yesterday that Milo was ‘a bit weak, but in good spirits’ after being dumped in the jungle while still in a cage. More than 12,000 people…
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Prime Minister keeps controversial comedian off stage
PHUKET: The show of controversial comedian and hate-speech convict Dieudonne M’bala M’bala, scheduled to take place last month at Illuzion night club in Phuket, was cancelled after the venue pulled the plug less than 24 hours ahead of the Frenchman taking the stage. Since then, Mr M’bala M’bala has struggled to find his footing in Asia. “One of the owners…
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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