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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Phuket underpass faces part-closures, races for November opening
PHUKET: The northbound lane above the 600-million-baht underpass beside the Central Festival Phuket shopping mall has been closed so workers can repave the road. “Motorists heading north can still use the underpass,” Phuket Highways Office Director Samak Luedwonghad told the Phuket Gazette. With the lane closed for repaving, motorists heading east past Central Festival can no longer turn left onto…
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Special Report: Phuket’s billion-baht beach ‘scandal’ never kept a secret
Special Report PHUKET: A senior official at Kata-Karon Municipality this week claimed that permits issued to allow local residents to work as beach vendors were introduced at the behest of a Provincial Hall standing committee some 20 years ago. The issue raised a storm of controversy last week when Paween Pongsirin, Region 8 Police Deputy Commander at the time (story…
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Phuket cat burglar robs sleeping couple’s hotel villa
PHUKET: Police have arrested a Phuket cat burglar who crept into a sleeping couple’s hotel villa and stole a mobile phone and about 13,000 baht in cash. “Thung Taothong, 28, was arrested at his apartment in Soi Yod Saneh in Chalong and charged with robbery,” Karon Police Deputy Superintendent Sophon Borrirak told the Phuket Gazette today. “We are still searching…
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Breaking News: 6-wheeled Phuket truck kills two on Patong Hill
PHUKET: Two people were killed in a road accident as they ascended the infamous Patong Hill road at about 3pm today, Patong Traffic Police told the Phuket Gazette. The two people riding the motorbike died after being crushed by a 6-wheeled truck in front of Sea Pearl Hotel. The driver, who police have yet to publicly name, has been taken…
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DDPM issues flash flood, landslide warnings for Phuket
PHUKET: A weather warning advising Phuket residents and tourists to prepare for flash floods and landslides has been issued by the local Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM). “According to the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD), we can expect increasingly heavy rains tomorrow,” said Weera Amnuayporn, acting DDPM Phuket office chief. “It’s going to take a turn for the worse,…
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Australians’ drunken balcony fall raises Phuket safety concerns
PHUKET: Patong Police have urged local municipality workers to inspect the balcony-railing heights of Phuket Graceland Resort and Spa after three drunk Australians tumbled off their second-floor balcony (story here). “It is beyond our jurisdiction to ensure that the railings are of a safe height. We actually voiced our concern before this accident, and again after it. However, we cannot…
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Phuket Police defend snaring foreign tourists in illegal taxi raids
PHUKET: Police have defended their actions in a raid that saw officers and military personal, clad in flak jackets and carrying assault rifles, besiege an illegal Phuket taxi carrying a family of foreign tourists. “We flagged down a taxi with the assistance of the security guard in front of our hotel at Karon Beach. The driver agreed to take us…
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Heroin overdose suspected in American expat’s death in Phuket
PHUKET: Police suspect that a 29-year-old American expat found dead on the side of the road in Kamala early last Sunday morning died of a heroin overdose. Not far from where the body of Texan Benjamin Nesher Jones was found on Soi 8, police arrested another man with 18grams of heroin. “We believe that Mr Jones died because of a…
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PWA announces Phuket Town water shutoff
PHUKET: The Phuket Water Authority (PWA) has announced that water supply in some areas of Phuket Town will be shut off from 9pm tomorrow to 3am on Sunday. Water is being shut off to allow for new pipes to be laid in Suan Luang Park* – part of the PWA’s plan to improve Phuket Town’s water-treatment process. Those affected include:…
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Phuket Police officer charged for fatal pub shooting
PHUKET: A Phuket Provincial Police officer has been charged with gunning down a waitress in cold blood after forensic evidence showed that the bullet came from his gun. Nuchiska Klasuek, a 35-year-old waitress, was shot in the head by an unidentified assailant in a pick-up truck on May 16, after leaving the popular Saraphan Pleng Pub live-music bar in Chalong…
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Thousands packed Phuket streets for final day of Vegetarian Festival
PHUKET: Thousands of people celebrated the end of the Phuket Vegetarian Festival last night, packing the streets as processions from each of the island’s shrines made their way to Saphan Hin for the midnight finale. Each of the Chinese shrine processions carried images of the Jade Emperor and the Nine Emperor Gods on palanquins as firecrackers blazed a pathway for…
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Phuket’s new top cop determined to protect island’s bottom line: tourists
PHUKET: Phuket’s new top cop took up his position yesterday, full of strategies to make the island a safer and happier place. Maj Gen Patchara Boonyasit, previously the commander of the Nakhon Sri Thammarat Provincial Police, paid his respects to Phuket’s illustrious history and cultural heritage by visiting the Baan Muang Mai stone and the Heroines’ Monument, before checking in…
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Thai women’s volleyball team win first Asian Games medal in 48 years
PHUKET: Thailand suffered mixed fortunes at the Asian Games yesterday when the women’s volleyball team made history by clinching a bronze medal, the first ever for the country at an Asiad, while the men’s soccer team ended fourth – for the fourth time. The Thai spikers made the country proud after ending the 48-year Asiad medal drought following a hard-fought…
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Phuket’s Nepalese community celebrates Dashain
PHUKET: Phuket’s 3,000-strong Nepalese community celebrates Bijaya Dashami tomorrow, the final and most important day of the 15-day-long national festival of Nepal. Celebrations in Phuket center around the Nepali Hindu Temple located in Soi Kuan Yang on Patong Hill. Most of the island’s Nepalese are expected to show up at the temple at least once during Dashain, with the largest…
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Video Report: Phuket’s new governor arrives, Maitri says farewell
PHUKET: A welcoming committee and hundreds of joyous people greeted Phuket’s new governor, Nisit Jansomwong, at Phuket International Airport yesterday. “Phuket is home to many nationalities, not just Thais. I would like to encourage these people to learn to love Phuket as their real home, so that it becomes a place of real value to them – not just a…
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Boat operators ordered to move away from Phuket Navy base, or face jail time
PHUKET: The Phuket Marine Office has issued an official order for boats to stay at least 500 meters away from the Royal Thai Navy’s Third Area Command base in Cape Panwa, or face jail time. The directive was handed down by the Marine Office on Tuesday, following an order from the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to re-organize…
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Patong beachfront power cables to go underground: Mayor
PHUKET: The power cables along the Patong beach road will go underground, the party town’s Mayor Chalermluck Kebsup has confirmed. The Patong Municipality Council finally agreed at a meeting on Tuesday how to source the required funds, a sticking point that saw councilors deny approval for the project twice earlier this year. “We have informed the Provincial Electricity Authority [PEA]…
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Russian killed in crash after leaving Phuket reggae bar
PHUKET: A helmet-less Russian national was killed in Phuket after he lost control of his motorbike and crashed into the sidewalk early this morning. Chalong Police and Ruamjai Foundation rescue workers were called to the scene next to the canal near Nai Harn lagoon at about 1am. “We found the body of Pavel Dzembo, 23, on the sidewalk that circles…
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Phuket ladyboys arrested for drunken “hug and run’ thefts
PHUKET: A pair of pick-pocketing ladyboys were arrested in Phuket yesterday after two tourists reported having been robbed by the duo while receiving a hug. Pavel Abramov, 24, from Russia, and Moris Fosaati, 38, from Italy, both reported at separate times to Karon Police on Monday that they had been pick-pocketed by two ladyboys, said Karon Police Deputy Superintendent Sophon…
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Phuket truck driver held after woman crushed by 18-wheeler
PHUKET: A truck driver has been taken into custody after one woman was crushed under his 18-wheeler and another woman injured at the Tah Chat Chai checkpoint yesterday morning. The driver of the truck and trailer, Niran Sawasdee, 37, told police that he was driving onto Phuket from Phang Nga when the accident occurred at about 11am. “I didn’t see…
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Phuket Navy base swaps top brass
PHUKET: After three years at the helm, Royal Thai Navy Vice Admiral Taratorn Kajitsuwan has been transferred from his post as the commanding officer at Phuket’s Third Area Command, the leading naval base for the entire Andaman coast. An assembly of sailors welcomed his replacement, Rear Admiral Sayan Prasongsamrej, at a handover parade at the base at Cape Panwa yesterday.…
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Australian seriously injured in Phuket balcony fall
PHUKET: An Australian tourist has suffered serious head trauma after falling from a second-floor balcony at the Phuket Graceland Resort and Spa in Patong last night. “Paul Hanson, Anthony Jones and Jean Cover, all 24 years old, were drinking on the balcony at about 9:10pm,” said Lt Col Pratuang Polmana of the Patong Police. “Then something happened, and they all…
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Phuket’s Patong tunnel project balloons past B10bn, to include flyover
PHUKET: The Patong tunnel project, now slated to cost more than 10 billion baht, is to be accompanied by a flyover to prevent a bottleneck at the Thung Thong Intersection in Kathu, it was revealed on Sunday. “Of the three options considered [story here], we have decided for the final plan to include the flyover,” said Aiyanut Tinaphai, governor of…
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Krabi tourism officials accuse EGAT of being “dishonest’
PHUKET: The Koh Lanta Tourism Association has lashed out against a coal-fired power plant slated for Krabi province, east of Phuket, claiming that the authority initiating the project has been dishonest with locals. “The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) held a third public hearing at Ban Klong Ruo, Nua Klong district, on Sunday. We believe it was insincere, as…
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Video Report: Krabi Police hunt gibbon tout east of Phuket
PHUKET: Krabi Police are looking to pull gibbon touts out from their hiding places after a video surfaced on Facebook showing a man photographing the protected species with tourists. “We haven’t received a complaint about gibbons being used this way in the Ao Nang area yet. However, I’ll put together a task force and deal with it immediately,” Col Witaya…
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Suicide victim’s mum reveals letter calling for return of Phuket beaches to vendors
PHUKET: A letter presented at a ceremony commemorating a financially distressed Phuket beach vendor found dead last week implored Thailand’s leaders to return the beachfront to those who used it to make a living. At the memorial service on Patong Beach on Saturday, Jirasak Sae-Koo’s mother, Pranee Piromrit, revealed the letter, and explained that her son had written it before…
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Breaking News: Army to probe Phuket visa run “cash for clearance’ claims at Sadao
PHUKET: Reports of foreigners returning from visa runs to Malaysia being asked to pay 200 baht in cash to clear immigration at the Sadao checkpoint are to be directed to the regional Army chief for Southern Thailand, the Phuket Gazette confirmed yesterday. “I was doing a trip with a visa-run company to Penang, Malaysia,” said one British expat, who asked…
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Myanmar worker saved after Phuket retaining wall collapses
PHUKET: A Myanmar worker escaped serious injury last night when a retaining wall at a Phuket construction site collapsed, pinning him in a hole and covering him with earth. The accident occurred at a housing estate under construction in Baan Ao Por, near Ao Por pier, at about 9:30pm, Lt Suporn Muangkhai told the Phuket Gazette. “Mr Htat, 22, as…
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Breaking News: Violent Phuket taxi drivers return to work
PHUKET: Expect to see taxi drivers who have been convicted for their role in Phuket’s taxi mafia back behind the wheel without delay, the Phuket Provincial Land Transportation Office (PLTO) confirmed to the Phuket Gazette today. “Anybody who was sentenced for his or her role in the taxi mafia – even individuals who ripped people off, were violent or intimidated…
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Officials catch fishing trawler working in restricted zone east of Phuket
PHUKET: The crews of two fishing boats were arrested for trawling in a restricted fishing area near Koh Sriboya, east of Phuket, yesterday morning. The boats, Chaitakarn 17 and Chaitakarn 15, had already netted 200 kilograms of fish by the time officials arrived. “We received a report from local fisherman that the boats were fishing in waters where trawling is…
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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