Phuket News
Phuket news, politics, business, tourism, and nightlife—stay updated with breaking stories, events, and expat updates from Thailand’s top island destination. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Phuket news source.
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Tsunami survivor waits for brother before Phuket savior reunion
PHUKET: British woman Emily Willgrass, who was last week reunited via Facebook with a Phuket woman who took care of her and her brother after the devastating tsunami struck Phuket, has arrived on the island. However, Ms Willgrass has yet to meet her tsunami savior in person. Yupin Sengmuang, who helped Ms Willgrass and her brother Ben while their father…
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Phuket taxi call center on hold, ranks wait for green light
PHUKET: The launch of the Patong taxi call center has been deferred indefinitely as officials scramble to prepare staff, taxi drivers and necessary equipment. The service was slated to kick off this month (story here), following the tear-down of illegal taxi stands throughout Patong and the rest of the island (story here). “We have mapped out the proposed locations of…
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Sale of B60mn prime Phuket land plot spooked by suspect land title
PHUKET: A family of farmers trying to sell nine rai of land with an estimated value of 60 million baht have come under scrutiny for trying to upgrade a SorKor 1 deed for the site to full Chanote status. Phuket Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosuttirak led officers to inspect the site yesterday after receiving an anonymous complaint asking for the Governor’s…
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Tourists on ‘walk-in’ visa entries to get 30-day extensions
PHUKET: The chief of the Phuket Immigration Office, Col Sunchai Chokkajaykij, has confirmed that his office has received an official order to begin issuing extensions of up to 30 days to foreigners who enter the country on visa-exemption status. The order, signed by Immigration Bureau Acting Commissioner Sakda Chuenpakdee, is to come into effect from August 29, said Col Sunchai.…
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Dozens of Phuket officials under fire for allegedly issuing illegal land documents
PHUKET: At least 30 officials in Phuket are under investigation for their alleged involvement in illegally issuing land documents for plots in Sirinath National Park. Tawichat Nillakan, chief of the Phuket office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), told the Phuket Gazette that his office had received at least 77 formal complaints against local officials for abusing their positions of…
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Phuket SEA Coworking Space hosts iSeahorse workshop tonight
PHUKET: The SEA Coworking Space in Phuket Town will be saddling up to host a free iSeahorse workshop this evening at 6:30. The event is a training workshop for scuba divers, snorkellers and beach goers who have an interest in learning how to survey and identify seahorses in coastal locations, explains Lindsay Aylesworth, lead researcher in Thailand for Project Seahorse…
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ITF Pro Circuit winners rejoice
PHUKET: WITH the Chang SAT International Tennis Federation (ITF) Pro Circuit doubles event at Phuket’s Thanyapura half way through, the first winners are celebrating their results. Ya-Fan Wang of China played from the qualifying round to win the Women’s Singles event. In the final round Wang survived five match points to come back to defeat Yi-Fan Xu 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.…
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Phuket lifeguards issue no-jeans warning after near-drowning
PHUKET: Lifeguards at Phuket’s Nai Harn Beach have called for swimmers to not wear jeans in the surf after a tourist wearing them nearly drowned there late yesterday afternoon. Lifeguards pulled Kammapol Suyapiew, 40, unconscious from the heavy surf after he went swimming with friends in an area marked by red flags. “We tried to warn them when we saw…
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Police save Phuket van driver from mob after collision kills woman two days before her 24th birthday
PHUKET: Police quickly removed a Phuket van driver from the scene of a fatal accident in Koh Kaew this afternoon that killed a woman two days before her 24th birthday. According to witnesses, Jantima Srilertchalalai was riding her motorbike about one kilometer from British International School Phuket when she braked suddenly while crossing a small bridge. “The van driver [travelling…
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Phuket begins registering illegal migrant workers
PHUKET: The first wave of illegal migrant workers made their way to Phuket Provincial Community Hall today to apply for legal working status at the one-stop registration center. The center opened at 8:30am and will operate every day until August 21, as instructed by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), to streamline the process of registering illegal migrant…
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Breaking News: Police bust Phuket drug dealer found with B3.5mn worth of ya ice
PHUKET: Police nabbed a big-time Phuket drug dealer yesterday afternoon with 3.5* million baht worth of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine) stashed away in his house in Rawai. “Suphap Somphak, 30, was wanted for his involvement in an island drug network. Investigators were able to gather enough information about him to secure a search warrant for his house in Soi Sarika…
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No life-time ban for overstays
PHUKET: Thailand’s Immigration Bureau has dropped its proposal for a lifetime ban on foreigners re-entering the country if they are caught overstaying their permits-to-stay by 10 years or more. The Immigration Division 1 in Bangkok announced the news by posting a special notice on its website this morning (click here). Under the new proposed rules, there is no re-entry ban…
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One man killed, one injured in two fruit-picking accidents on Phuket
PHUKET: One fruit harvester was injured and another killed yesterday in separate accidents on northern Phuket. At about 4:30pm, a Myanmar national named only as Maen fell from a tree to his death at a west coast resort while harvesting coconuts. The tree was situated on the edge of a cliff, and Mr Maen, 32, fell 30 meters before striking…
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Land Dept explains legal loophole to owning park land
PHUKET: A legal loophole dating back more than 50 years may be just what those accused of encroaching on Phuket’s Sirinath National Park need to legally claim privately owned plots within the park’s boundaries. The surprise was delivered to Governor Maitri Inthusut this afternoon by a Deputy Director-General of the Land Department, Thammasak Chana, accompanied by Phuket Land Office chief…
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Angry Rawai residents demand water
PHUKET: A group of angry residents from the Saiyuan Med Village housing estate in Rawai descended on the Phuket Water Authority (PWA) office at Bang Wad Reservoir today to demand action to fix their water supply. Water supply had been intermittent since the start of the year, and for the past two months 55 homes in the estate have had…
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Phuket teen confesses to fatal stabbing
PHUKET: A Phuket teen turned in to police by his parents has confessed to the fatal stabbing of another young man in the heat of a fistfight early yesterday morning. “The parents of Suppachai Mattanung, 19, called me this morning and told me they were bringing their son to the station, as he had confessed to them that he had…
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Woman shot dead in Phuket Town
PHUKET: Police are hunting for the suspect of a shooting on the east side of Phuket Town last night that ended in the death of a woman from Trang. Local residents who heard the sounds of gunfire in Soi Hatchananivet, near the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organization (PPAO) Hospital in Rassada, notified Phuket City Police of the incident by at about…
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Phuket visa runs surge as expats scurry for legitimate stays
PHUKET: The ongoing crackdown on foreigners staying in Thailand by doing visa runs to re-enter the country on visa-exemption status has sparked a surge in the number of foreigners in Phuket travelling to Penang to obtain visas issued by the Royal Thai Consulate there. Preeyapan Adithepwarangkul, owner of KBV Visa Run, told the Phuket Gazette that demand for the Penang…
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Drug dealer serves time in Pattalung, arrested in Phuket for dealing again
PHUKET: A drug dealer who had recently been released from a six-year stint in prison was arrested in Phuket yesterday in possession of 105,000 baht of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine). Jakkarin Songpet, 33, was stopped by Thalang Police at the Baan Bang Jo checkpoint on Thepkrasattri Road at about 5:30pm. “We pulled him over because he was driving a motorbike…
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First Hole-in-One at Laguna Phuket Golf Club new course
PHUKET: Soon after Laguna Phuket Golf Club unveiled the first half of their completely redesigned golf course, a new opportunity to celebrate presented itself. This time it was thanks to German golf player Juergen John who scored a hole-in-one on July 9 – both his and the course’s first. Stepping onto the Blue Tee, Juergen flushed an 8 iron on…
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Mcllroy joins greats after repelling Garcia charge
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Rory McIlroy suffered several anxious moments but kept the jitters in check to rubber-stamp his status as the newest golfing great by landing the first British Open title of his career on Sunday. The 25-year-old Northern Irishman watched Sergio Garcia (66) cut his overnight lead from six…
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Phuket Raceweek: Foxy Lady breezes to victory
PHUKET: Bill Bremner’s Foxy Lady VI breezed around the course off the east coast of Phuket today to win the IRC Racing I Class of the 2014 Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek Regatta. Placing fourth in today’s race was little more than a formality for the too-hot-to-handle Foxy Lady (story here) crew to ensure they had enough points to allow…
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Special Report: Tackling Phuket’s kid thugs is no child’s play
A growing number of teenagers in Phuket are becoming involved in drug abuse and violent crimes in a shift that is concerning local officials involved with juvenile cases, from court judges who hand down sentences to the minors to the counselors tasked with reforming them in the hope the children do not become repeat offenders. The Gazette’s Saran Mitrarat reports.…
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Phuket Police launch 10pm street curfew for minors
PHUKET: Following the recent spate of violent teenage attacks throughout Phuket, the island’s top-ranking police officer has ordered a 10pm curfew for all minors, effective immediately. “I have ordered officers from every police station in Phuket to start cracking down on children under 18 years old who are found roaming the streets at night,” Provincial Police Commander Krajang Suwannarat told…
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Phuket Governor prepared to cry “disaster zone’ to combat coastal erosion
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut has pledged to support all budget requests by local authorities to combat the resurgence of coastal erosion that has plagued Phuket’s beaches during the past week. If need be, the governor is willing to specifically declare Surin Beach a disaster zone in order to be able to release money from a disaster-relief fund in order…
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Phuket migrant worker center to combat slavery to open July 22, as deadline looms
PHUKET: Phuket’s one-stop registration center where employers will be able register their illegal migrant workers will be open for 30 days, starting on July 22. “The center will be located at the Phuket Provincial Community Hall in Phuket Town,” Phuket Provincial Employment Office (PPEO) Chief Yaowapa Pibulpol confirmed to the Phuket Gazette today. “The one-stop center will be open from…
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Phuket thief smashes car window, makes off with 20,000 baht
PHUKET: Police have warned motorists against leaving valuables in their cars after a Phuket thief this morning smashed a car window with a rock and made off with a bag containing 20,000 baht. Phuket City Police were called to the scene on Wirat Hongyok Road, near Suan Luang Park (also called Chalermprakiat Ror IX Park or King’s Park), at about…
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Phuket beach tear-down debris stabs tourist through foot
PHUKET: A Phuket tourist exercising barefoot on Kamala Beach yesterday was stabbed through the foot by a one-foot-long metal rod that was hidden beneath the sand. Local rescue workers called to the scene near the Kamala Cemetery found Benedict Tauber, 55, sitting on the ground with the metal rod sticking through the bottom of his foot. “We had to cut…
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Police raid illegal Phuket forest homestead
PHUKET: A Phuket police raid on an illegal homestead in the Kamala Forest yesterday found no people but did turn up a registered rifle which police are using to pursue suspects. More than 30 Phuket police officers and a special squad from Region 8 Police went to the site, located three kilometers away from the nearest road, after local residents…
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Next Target: Land-snatching Phuket officials
PHUKET: National level politicians involved in commandeering more than 1,000 rai of public land in Phuket will face fire as a joint agency operation pushes to shake out the long history of illegal land titles plaguing Sirinath National Park. “The people at the root of the issue of encroachment in Sirinath Park go all the way up to the top……
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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