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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Helmetless motorcyclist dead after hitting pick-up truck
PHUKET: A motorcyclist was killed after colliding with the back of pick-up truck in rush-hour traffic on Thepkrasattri Road yesterday afternoon. “I was on the way home after having picked up my child. We were about to make a u-turn when I heard something slam into the back of the truck,” said Hathairat Songyot, 39. Ms Hathairat called police, who…
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Russia rejects FIFA plea to cut World Cup venues
PHUKT: Russia has rejected a FIFA recommendation to cut the number of host cities for the 2018 World Cup from 11 to nine and stadiums from 12 to 10, according to Russia sports minister Vitaly Mutko. “The plan that we will have 12 stadiums in 11 cities, which will host matches at the World Cup is not changing,” Mutko told…
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Atletico’s Garcia earns Super Cup draw at Real Madrid
PHUKET: Atletico Madrid’s Raul Garcia netted a late equaliser to earn a 1-1 draw at Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup first leg on Tuesday after substitute James Rodriguez had opened the scoring with 10 minutes left. Colombian Rodriguez, who came on for the injured Cristiano Ronaldo at halftime, thought he had won the game when he slotted the…
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Phuket national park land encroachment hearing reveals two claims for same plot
PHUKET: A total of 47 people today explained to the Navy how they came to possess plots of land deemed to be inside Phuket’s Sirinath National Park. Present at the meeting to hear the explanations was Commander Pornprom Sakultem of the Third Naval Area Command. One attendee, Tawee Ngerndee, told Cmd Pornprom that he “used to own” just over 10…
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Officials confident 700 rai of Phuket park land to be returned
PHUKET: More than 700 rai of public land inside Sirinath National Park could be returned to the public by September 16 if a dozen land documents under investigation by the Land Department are found to have been illegally issued. “I am quite confident that most of the [12] documents [under investigation] were illegally issued. We are just waiting for officers…
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Phuket’s first underpass opens as construction continues
PHUKET: The 600-million-baht underpass located beside the Central Festival Phuket shopping mall is now open to northbound vehicles, Phuket Highways Office Director Samak Luedwonghad confirmed to the Phuket Gazette today. The underpass was opened on Saturday from 10am to noon and then opened to traffic again today after it was determined that the road surface for northbound traffic at ground…
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Phuket official assures Patong kingpin not above the law
PHUKET: Kathu District Chief Sayan Chanachaiwong has vowed that the sandbags in front of the Patong Bay Garden Resort will be removed from the beach, or resort owner and Patong kingpin Preechavude “Prab” Keesin, son of former Patong Mayor Pian Keesin, will have to answer to the military. Mr Sayan, accompanied by Phuket Vice Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada, Patong Mayor Chalermluck…
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Ancient human remains unearthed in Krabi, WWII shipwreck found off Chumphon
PHUKET: Ancient human bones have been unearthed along with clay pots believed to be up to 5,000 years old in Khao Na Wang Mi in Krabi, across Phang Nga Bay from Phuket. Following the discovery of the bones in a cliff area in Thap Prik, north of Krabi Town, the Phuket-based 15th Archaeology Office director Riam Phumpongphaet said the office…
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Scores of alleged Phuket mafia taxi drivers shuffle into court
PHUKET: The first 70 of 108 Phuket taxi drivers facing charges for alleged involvement in the taxi mafia appeared in court for their preliminary hearing today. Those unable to fit in the court room were told that they would be seen by the court in early-September. The defendants, some of whom denied the charges, were arrested during a historic, island-wide…
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Phuket weather forecast prompts flood, landslide, tour boat warnings
PHUKET: Blue skies over Phuket this afternoon herald a welcome reprieve to the deluges that doused the island over the weekend and throughout today. By 1pm this afternoon, humidity had reached 98 per cent and more than 47mm of rainfall had been dumped on Phuket Town and the surrounding areas (see report in Thai here). The rainfall is set to…
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Phuket man stabs relative over a bottle of whiskey
PHUKET: A 19-year-old man wanted for stabbing a relative late last night over 500 baht to buy a bottle of whiskey is expected to surrender to police tomorrow, the Phuket Gazette was told today. When Thalang Police arrived at the house near the Heroines’ Monument about 30 minutes past midnight, the stabbing suspect had fled the scene. His relative, however,…
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Officers inspect Phuket waterfall area for encroachment
PHUKET: An investigation squad yesterday inspected developed areas allegedly encroaching on the protected forest area surrounding the Wang Kee Aon Waterfall in the hills of Patong, one of the places HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej visited on a trip to Phuket in 1959. The team, composing Royal Forest Department (RFD) officers and Navy personnel, were following up on complaints from Patong…
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Phuket lottery winners to spend B26mn prize on children’s education
PHUKET: A Phuket couple who won 26 million baht from the national lottery this weekend have set their children’s education as their top priority in spending the windfall prize. Sutin Nuanjan, 46, and his wife, Puangkaew 39, discovered on Saturday that they had won millions of baht. “On Wednesday [August 13], we went to the market in Rawai and asked…
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Phuket’s Club Med giving green to Kata
PHUKET: The five rai of Phuket public land returned to the Kata-Karon community when Club Med was given a new lease on life on August 11 will be developed into a public park. “Representatives of the public and Club Med decided that the best way to use the land will be to develop a green space where everyone can exercise…
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Park wins LPGA Championship in playoff
PHUKET: Park Inbee of South Korea won the LPGA Championship in a sudden death playoff against Catriona Matthew of Britain on Sunday, giving her victories in the first two women’s major championships of the year. Park won on the third hole of the playoff at Locust Hill Country Club outside Rochester, New York, with a birdie on the par-four 18th…
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Federer downs Ferrer to capture sixth Cincinnati title
PHUKET: Roger Federer’s hopes of adding to his record grand slam haul got a boost as he beat Spain’s David Ferrer 6-3 1-6 6-2 to win the Western and Southern Open title in Cincinnati on Sunday in the last key U.S. Open tune-up event. It marked the sixth Cincinnati title for the Swiss second seed and, coming off last week’s…
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Phuket woman attempts suicide, ingests insecticides to escape financial woes
PHUKET: A Phuket woman plagued by financial woes was rushed to hospital last night after she tried to commit suicide by ingesting a lethal insecticide. Thalang Police were called to the scene by the woman’s boyfriend, Chamnan Kornsuwan, at about 10pm, but 43 year-old Samrong Rongsab had already been rushed to Thalang Hospital by the time officers arrived. Sen Sgt…
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Phuket, it’s going to be a wet one
PHUKET: Keep your brolly handy this weekend, because the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) has issued a heavy rain and flood warning for Phuket and several southern provinces. The TMD’s warning comes as the Patong Police Station and nearby roads flooded for a second time in two days (story here and here). Additionally, the TMD issued a landslide warning today, following…
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Patong Police Station hit by Phuket flooding, again
PHUKET: Patong Police are scrambling to move everything from the first floor to the second floor as their station is swamped for a second time in two days by Phuket flash floods. “The water is about up to our knees in the station,” said Lt Col Suttichai Tianpho of the Patong Police. “The computers and case files are still on…
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Iconic Match of the Day celebrates 50th anniversary
PHUKET: Hours after the dust settled on the first skirmishes of a new Premier League season yesterday, fans across Britain flicked on the TV, grabbed a cup of tea and settled down to digest the day’s action from a comfy sofa. It is a time-honored ritual enjoyed by generations, young and old, since the BBC’s Match of the Day first…
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Phuket student injured after tree falls into morning traffic
PHUKET: A large tree crashed into Phuket Town traffic this morning, leaving a student with minor injuries. Phuket City Police officers arrived at the scene, Komarabhat Road intersection near Phuket Wittayalai School, at about 11:15am and found a crushed white pick-up truck under the tree. “I was waiting for traffic to move when I felt something slam my truck. I…
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Board game gamblers swept up by Phuket Police, Navy
PHUKET: Navy personnel and Phuket City Police officers netted 37 gamblers in two separate raids last night. The officers rushed a makeshift casino in a meeting room on the second floor of the Town Inn Hotel, and discovered 27 gamblers, gambling paraphernalia and 66,660 baht in cash. “We received a tip-off about the meeting room being used as a gambling…
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Phuket Hard Rock Cafe GM arrested for gruesome ‘cold case’ murder in Australia
PHUKET: Hard Rock Cafe Phuket General Manager Gerard Caleo, 42, was arrested in Australia for his alleged role in the gruesome murder of Rita Caleo, reported the South Sydney Morning Herald today (story here). Mr Caleo was arrested by Homicide Squad detectives after landing in Sydney on a flight from Kuala Lumpur at about 6am. He has been charged with…
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Drug-crazed Phuket man kills friend, wounds girlfriend with meat cleaver
PHUKET: One man died, while a woman lay seriously injured in hospital last night following an attack by a drug-crazed man thought to be high on ya ice (crystal methamphetamine). Phuket City Police were called to a dormitory on Santisuk Soi Mai Luan Road at 6:30pm, where they found the 25-year-old suspect, Niwat Sampoosri, locked in the room attempting to…
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Ghost-rider killed in Phuket road accident
PHUKET: A man driving a motorbike on the wrong side of the road was killed after he was struck by a van near Makro in Kathu early this morning. Chanwit Pitiwat, 31, who was not wearing a helmet, was killed instantly at about 4:30 after a Hotelbeds minivan struck him, Capt Narong Muengduang of the Wichit Police told the Phuket…
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We can’t save drivers from themselves: Phuket police
PHUKET: There will be no concerted effort by Phuket police to ramp up road safety despite six people – including three teenagers – being killed in road accidents in less than 24 hours last weekend. Phuket’s road nightmare began on August 8, when Red Mountain Golf Course caddy Sakon Banchongkaeo, 34, died after the motorbike on which she was riding…
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Patong Police Station goes for a swim during Phuket flash flood
PHUKET: The carpark and first floor of Patong Police Station were underwater early this morning as a heavy rainstorm blasted through Phuket. “The flash flooding started at about 5am and lasted a couple of hours,” Lt Col Suttichai Tianpho of the Patong Police told the Phuket Gazette. “Some of our computers were damaged during the flood, as we were not…
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Phuket says goodbye to more illegal beach structures
PHUKET: A massive military sweep of some of Phuket’s most popular beaches yesterday saw almost two dozen illegal structures forcefully removed and charges pressed against the business owners. An impressive crew of about 500 military personnel and local officials arrived at the beach towns to enforce a 30-day beach clear-out deadline that expired yesterday; a mammoth mission that started in…
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Steeplechase winner disqualified for shirtless celebration
PHUKET: Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad was stripped of the 3,000-meter steeplechase gold medal after performing a shirtless celebration down the final straight at the European Athletics championships on Thursday. The Frenchman, well clear of the rest of the field, pulled off his vest as he came around the final bend, put it in his mouth as he waved to the crowd. He…
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Police deny rumor of order for strict enforcement of closing time for Phuket party town
PHUKET: Patong Police this afternoon denied rumors of an order demanding that they more strictly enforce the 2am closure of nightlife venues in Phuket’s premier party town. “I’m sorry, but I’ve not heard about this,” Patong Police Superintendent Chiraphat Pochanaphan told the Phuket Gazette when asked about the order. Col Chiraphat offered no further comments. However, both Patong deputy superintendents,…
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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