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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Cop-slaying drunk driver hit with civil case
PHUKET: A civil case was brought against the drunk minivan driver who killed an on-duty police officer on Monday. Sen Sgt Maj Suthat Songmuang, father of two, was promoted to Captain postmortem before he was buried yesterday. Region 8 Police gave 100,000 baht to his family. However, a civil lawsuit for further compensation was filed against the driver, 25-year-old Pichitpol…
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“Missing’ Irish teacher locked up for drunk driving
PHUKET: The Phuket Tourist Police search for an Irish teacher who disappeared Saturday night came to a screeching halt after the Patong Police revealed that the 35-year-old man had been locked up for drunk driving. Eion Cahill, a teacher at Satree Phuket School, was released on bail at 10:30 this morning. “Mr Cahill’s friends last saw him at Tai Pan…
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Officials table banning destructive diving practice
PHUKET: Authorities are looking to ban destructive dive practices that have been developed on Phi Phi Island to cater to mass tourism. Officials are specifically looking to ban a practice they are calling ‘Try Diving’. “In this case, ‘Try Diving’ is where people with no dive experience at all are brought to a shallow reef to walk around and see…
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Wastewater flow on Karon Beach not hotels’ fault, says official
PHUKET: The foul black water that flowed across Karon Beach on Thursday was not connected to any hotel in the area improperly discharging untreated wastewater, confirmed officials. However, it was untreated wastewater. “The problem, which was caused by officers fixing some pipes, was blown out of proportion by people sharing photos and spreading rumors on social media sites,” Wanchai Saetan,…
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Participants lining up for next year’s Raceweek
PHUKET: Participants and sponsors are already signing up for next year’s Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek, booking their rooms well in advance at host resorts Cape Panwa Hotel and Kantary Bay Phuket. Returning in 2016 are sponsors Sailescapes, who last year entered a boat and provided charter opportunities for local and international sailors. Joining them are mixed-used developers Absolute World…
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Drunk minivan driver kills Phuket police officer [video]
PHUKET: A drunk minivan driver killed a Phuket police officer after jumping the curb and running over him at a u-turn near Phuket International Airport this morning. Sen Sgt Maj Suthat Songmuang of the Tah Chat Chai Police was on duty at the time and preparing for his role as part of the security team for the visit of HRH…
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Sea Shepherd hunts Interpol-wanted poacher that escaped Phuket
PHUKET: The hunt is back on for the internationally black-listed illegal, unreported, unregulated (IUU) fishing vessel that slipped through the fingers of Phuket officials earlier this year, confirmed Captain Siddharth Chakravarty of the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin. “The summer fishing season for toothfish starts now, so we have launched this campaign before the Kunlun can do further damage,” Capt…
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Gibbon touts return to Monkey Beach
PHUKET: Illegal-gibbon touts returned to Monkey Beach in Phi Phi with the start of the high season, confirmed a Phuket Gazette reader. Photographic evidence of two men walking the beach and offering to take pictures of tourists holding the gibbons was promptly passed on to officials. “They are apparently back for high season, because they can earn so much money,”…
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Warming up for Laguna Tri-Fest
PHUKET: Challenge Laguna Phuket’s Tri-Fest event will see hundreds of international athletes come to the island for the legendary Laguna Phuket Triathlon (LPT), to be held on November 22, and the Challenge Laguna Phuket on November 29. The event was presented to organizers, sponsors and media last month at a conference chaired by Santi Pawai, director of the Ministry of…
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A Decade Ago: Airport taxis at it again
PHUKET: As Phuket continues to stumble through the fog of beach rules following the National Council for Peace and Order’s cleanup last year, it is refreshing to look back on simpler times at Patong Beach. Just a decade ago, as the island geared up for its first high season after the tsunami, a total of 1,000 masseuses rolled out beach…
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Earthquake shakes Phuket
PHUKET: An earthquake measuring 6.2 in magnitude rattled the island just before midnight last night. The Thai Meteorological Department reported the quake as striking at 11:47pm with its epicenter about 427 kilometers southwest of Phuket, near the Nicobar Islands in India. The Regional Environmental Office has yet to receive any damage reports. — Chutharat Plerin
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Raids net six Phuket drug dealers
PHUKET: Police arrested six Phuket suspects this week for allegedly peddling drugs for a kingpin operating in a prison in Central Thailand. “In two days of raids, we were able to make all six arrests and seize a total of 246 grams of ya ice [crystal methamphetamine] and 114 ya ba [methamphetamine] pills. Additionally, we seized one firearm,” Lt Col…
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10% zone takes hold on Patong Beach – no loungers allowed
PHUKET: Patong Beach has become the first beach on the island to have the official 10 per cent zone implemented, confirmed Phuket Vice Governor Chokdee Amornwat yesterday. “There have been a number of reports circulating in the English-language media about Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada saying at a meeting earlier this week that tourists could put loungers and umbrellas anywhere on the…
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Phuket police catch fraudulent Facebook “catfish’
PHUKET: Police charged a woman with the Computer Crimes Act following her creation of a false Facebook account to defraud buyers. Piyanut Singkaluk, 23, confessed that she started collecting pictures of people from the internet in August in order to create a fake Facebook account, a practice that has widely become known as ‘catfishing’. Once the account was established, she…
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Aussies to be injected with Phuket virus
PHUKET: A Phuket strain of the influenza virus is being mixed into an Australian quadrivalent flu vaccine for 2016 following a record number of cases reported this year by the Australian Journal of Pharmacy (AJP). The Brisbane and Phuket strains of the virus contributed to the 25,000 spike in reported cases, explained Health Minister Sussan Ley. To combat the increase…
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Phuket police on prevention alert prior to Pai rape
PHUKET: Phuket police reassured the community that efforts to enforce closing times of nightlife venues here were already in full swing prior to the directive issued by the Royal Thai Police in the wake of a British woman being raped. Royal Thai Police ordered officers this week to renew efforts in ensuring that all entertainment venues are closed on time,…
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Still no trace of Nai Harn garbage dumpers
PHUKET: It has been nearly five months since the Rawai Municipality received video evidence of a garbage truck dumping waste and construction materials near the award-winning Nai Harn Beach, yet the municipality has thus far failed to identify the illegal dumpers. “I sent the license-plate number of the truck to the Phuket Land and Transport Office [PLTO] months ago, but…
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Car crashes into Phuket International Airport, one injured
PHUKET: An out-of-control car crashed into the departure hall of Phuket International Airport yesterday evening. “Woranut Buted, 33, said she confused the brake and gas pedals, accidentally accelerating into the trolleys and breaking the glass wall near an airport security checkpoint,” said Maj Santi Prakobpran of the Tah Chat Chai Police. A nearby passenger, Chinese national Shuya Zhang, 24, received…
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Special Report: Controversial Dolphinarium puts on first Phuket shows
PHUKET: A number of local schools and orphanages were invited to join the soft opening of Phuket’s highly-contested dolphinarium on the weekend of October 31. Though the manager of the the Dolphins Bay Phuket facility declined to detail exactly how many invitations went out, the five dolphins, two seals and their trainers debuted to a packed 900-seat house. “We actually…
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Phuket mini-van crash kills one; Chinese tourist in coma
PHUKET: An out of control mini-van crashed head-on with a car in Phuket early this morning, killing one person, leaving a Chinese tourist in a coma and injuring five others. “Witnesses explained that the van was heading north on Thepkrasattri Road, near Soi Wat Phra Thong, when the driver lost control of the vehicle on the wet road, crossed the…
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Home & Life orphanage sees fun-raising projects bearing fruit
PHUKET: The Home and Life Foundation * is seeing the fruits of last November’s ‘fun-raising’ event ripen. The full 900,000 baht raised at Centara Grande Karon, who hosted the event, has been spent on improving the Phang Nga Home and Life Foundation, which was established in 2006 to care for children who had lost their parents in the tsunami. “We…
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Underpass construction company faces multi-million baht fines
PHUKET: The construction company building the more than 800-million-baht Samkong underpass has until December 21 to finish the project before hefty fines are implemented, Bureau of Bridge Construction Director Narin Srisompun said yesterday. “Wiwat Construction Co Ltd is only 54 per cent finished with the project. At this rate, construction won’t finish until June. However, the contract – which has…
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Woman fakes robbery to pay back funeral debt
KRABI: A Krabi woman has been charged with filing a fake police report in order to pay off debt accrued by her father’s funeral. Amporn Patchimkleang, 47, told officers that she and her husband were at the Krabi district office to file paperwork. She claimed that while she was in the restroom, someone hit her over the head, bound her…
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A Decade Ago: Floating city dream sinks
PHUKET: Even now, ten years later, the images for the purposed ‘Ao Phuket’ look futuristic – more appropriate for Japan, Singapore or South Korea than our island in the Andaman. The plan was to build a mini-city on reclaimed land in the bay off Saphan Hin, complete with hotel, conference hall, international sporting facilities and… wait for it… a casino.…
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Phuket beach-usage issue halts lifeguard tower construction
PHUKET: Local complaints and land-usage issues brought the construction of a much-needed lifeguard tower on Kata Noi Beach to a halt last month. Construction on the tower, backed by the Phuket Marine Office, began in September. However, officials are now removing the unfinished structure. “We received a lot of complaints from locals about the new location of the tower, so…
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Decapitated dugong found on Koh Yao Yai
PHUKET: A dugong that washed up on Koh Yao Yai Beach Tuesday morning is believed to have been decapitated for its teeth, experts confirmed. “Dugong teeth are revered by some as good luck charms and are often used to make necklaces,” said Kongkiat Kittiwattanawong, head of the Phuket Marine Biological Center’s (PMBC’s) Endangered Species Unit. PMBC experts estimated that the…
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Six foreigners injured in high-speed Phuket taxi crash
PHUKET: Six foreigners were injured in a high-speed, three-car smash on Thepkrasattri Road yesterday afternoon. A taxi involved in the accident ran into one vehicle, which then crashed into a utility pole, before sailing across the median and colliding head-on into a taxi carrying a group of Indian tourists, explained Lt Suporn Muangkai of the Thalang Police. The tourists, Anui…
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Phuket Riot: Officers fear arrest retribution
PHUKET: Concerned about retribution, police have yet to arrest any of the suspects wanted for the Thalang Police Station riot, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Teeraphol Thipjaroen confirmed to the Phuket Gazette. “At this stage, we are in no rush to arrest the suspects,” Col Teeraphol said. “We need to think carefully about each arrest and the possible consequences. We do…
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Phuket cameras bust 10 speedsters a day
PHUKET: The four speed cameras that came online at the end of 2013 are booking about 10 drivers a day, confirmed Phuket Provincial Police Commander Teeraphol Thipjaroen on Monday. Motorists caught speeding in Phuket face a fine of up to 1,000 baht, but have nearly one month to come to the police station and pay. “If they fail to do…
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Police stations given quotas for drunk driver arrests
PHUKET: Police officers were given the green light to pull over and arrest anyone suspected of drunk driving in Phuket, after it was revealed that they would now need to make more than 150 drunk driving arrests a month. The penalty for driving under the influence is up to two years in prison, a 10,000 baht fine or both, confirmed…
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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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