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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Police arrest suspect for French tourist murder
PHUKET: Chalong Police have arrested at least one Myanmar national in connection with the killing of French tourist Fabrice Boigeol, 37, who was found slain in his rented Phuket bungalow on April 18. Police have yet to release more details, but the Phuket Gazette has been informed that officers conducting the investigation are searching for at least one other murder…
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QSI Kid Expo kicks off this Sunday
PHUKET: Prep the kids for this Sunday because QSI International School Phuket will hold its first-ever “Kid Expo” from 1-5pm. Dozens of local business will be on-site offering services and activities for children, aiming to provide “everything a family needs” in one place. The expo will see companies offering an enormous range of activities aimed at young children and teens,…
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Phuket Pride Week’s Grand Parade to block beach road on Sunday
PHUKET: Phuket Pride Week 2014 will go out with a bang on Sunday with its Grand Parade – the highlight of the eight-day event – marching down Patong’s beachfront road. The beach road will be blocked during the parade, which starts at 3pm at Soi Tan and will present a plethora of floats, fantastically dressed people, street entertainment and music.…
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“She begged for her life’: Phuket mother tells of pregnant daughter’s rape ordeal
PHUKET: The mother of the pregnant woman raped by twin teenage brothers in Phuket last Sunday night has told the Phuket Gazette how the men ignored her daughter’s pleas for mercy. “She begged them not to do it, but they didn’t listen,” the mother told the Gazette. “They didn’t only rape and rob her. They choked her very hard as…
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Phuket to launch trash separation project for World Environment Day
PHUKET: Municipalities across Phuket will launch a project to ensure the separation of hazardous materials from public trash on June 5 in a united effort to prevent dangerous materials from contaminating the island’s beaches, canals and the ocean. The project was agreed to at a meeting on Wednesday held by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) Phuket office.…
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Patong alcohol ban as Pian guns for mayor
PHUKET: The sale of alcohol will be banned throughout Patong tonight and tomorrow (including tomorrow night) as residents go to the polls to elect a Patong Mayor and several new councilors. Former Patong Mayor Pian Keesin will run for re-election. He will face two candidates in the race: Phuket Democrat Chalermluck Kebsab and former councilor Kittisan Kuru of the Patong…
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Asean disaster specialists meet in Phuket to prepare for the next big one
PHUKET: Doctors and disaster medicine specialists from nine Asean countries are in Phuket to attend a workshop aimed at sharing knowledge and upgrading disaster response systems. Participants at the “Asean Disaster Medicine Workshop”, being held from April 23 to 25, described emergency response systems and international cooperation mechanisms in their own countries. They also took part in a simulation at…
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Phuket’s one-stop yacht center trial period hits first software snag
PHUKET: The long-awaited, 70-million-baht one-stop yacht center at Chalong Pier opened on Monday only to see system bugs force officers to register all inbound yachts and crews by hand. “Monday was our first trial day for the center, and we had a lot of tourists come to Chalong Pier,” explained Phuket Provincial Administration Office Transportation Division Chief Prasit Yotharak. “We…
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Fire-preventing pump bursts into flames on old Phuket ferry
PHUKET: A pump meant to reduce the risk of fire by sucking up old oil short-circuited and burst into flames on a ferry in Ao Por on Tuesday afternoon. All three men working on the ferry when the flames broke out jumped overboard and were rescued by a nearby boat. “The ferry was old and the men were cutting up…
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Angry Phuket mob stages blockade over twin teen rape suspects
PHUKET: A mob of angry residents this afternoon blockaded Phuket’s critical main artery, Thepkrasattri Road, amid outrage over the twin teenagers who raped a pregnant woman in the area on Sunday night. The blockade, just north of the turnoff to Phuket International Airport, formed at about 2pm after villagers realized that police would not be bringing the twin brothers to…
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Anything to declare? Airport officials asked to target bags of undisclosed cash
PHUKET: Officers at Phuket International Airport have been asked to target people carrying large amounts of undisclosed cash in the ongoing battle to crack down on transnational crime. The request comes from Glenn Tankard of the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Mr Tankard was in Phuket early this month in his role as head of the Thai Transnational Crime Coordination Network…
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Phuket airport health officials ramp up MERS surveillance
PHUKET: Health officials at Phuket International Airport have ramped up efforts to identify any travellers arriving in Phuket who are suspected of carrying the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus (Mers-CoV). The news follows the death of a Malaysian man from complications caused by MERS after returning from Saudi Arabia, in what appears to be the first fatal case of the disease…
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Manchester United’s manager canned
PHUKET: David Moyes’s troubled reign at Old Trafford came to an abrupt end on Tuesday when the Scot was sacked after a hugely disappointing 10-month spell as manager after replacing Alex Ferguson last July. Announcing his departure in a terse, two line statement, United thanked Moyes for, “the hard work, honesty and integrity he brought to the role”. Veteran midfielder…
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Blackout in parts of northern Phuket tomorrow
PHUKET: Thalang District Electricity Authority (TDEA) has announced a major blackout scheduled to affect residents in Thalang tomorrow from 9am to 5pm. The scheduled blackout will affect areas along the southbound lane of Thepkrasattri Road, from the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives Thalang branch to the LPG gas station in Baan Li Porn. Thalang Hospital will be affected, but…
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Phuket residents approve north-south Chalong underpass
PHUKET: Local residents yesterday voted to approve a route for the Chalong underpass: a two-way underpass stretching one kilometer long that joins Chao Fa West Road and Wiset Road. The selected route was chosen at the second public hearing for the project, held at The Metropole Hotel in Phuket Town. The chosen route was among four options presented yesterday. The…
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Twin brothers arrested for rape of pregnant Phuket woman
PHUKET: Police are questioning 17-year-old twin brothers suspected of raping a pregnant woman along a dark stretch of road in northern Phuket on Sunday night. Tah Chat Chai Police have the pair in custody and are currently questioning them over the incident. The brothers are suspected of kicking a 25-year-old woman who is five months pregnant off her motorcycle, causing…
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PACC to dive in on Phuket corruption case on Monday
PHUKET: A Public-sector Anti Corruption Commission (PACC) team will begin its investigation on Monday into extortion charges lodged last month by 41 members of the Phuket dive community (story here). “At least nine PACC officers will form the investigation team. They will stay for as long as it takes to ensure that we have enough information to proceed with the…
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Pregnant woman kicked off her motorbike, raped in northern Phuket
PHUKET: Two men kicked a pregnant woman off her motorcycle, causing her to break a leg, then dragged her off the road and raped and robbed her in Mai Khao on Sunday night. The 25-year-old woman is five months pregnant. She was riding home alone from her job as a convenience store cashier when the attack occurred at about 10:30pm…
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Police believe French national killed during robbery
PHUKET: Police believe a French national found dead in his rented Phuket bungalow on Friday was killed in the midst of a robbery. Officers are now working on identifying two suspects recorded by the resort’s CCTV cameras. The body of Fabrice Boigeol, 37, was found lying in a pool of blood partially under a stripped mattress in a room at…
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Employers escape jail terms for Phuket sewer deaths
PHUKET: The investigation into the deaths of four workers in a Phuket Town sewer last month has ruled that the two companies involved will face fines only. The news follows the Phuket office of the Department of Labor Protection and Welfare (DLPW) concluding its investigation on Saturday. “The next step is to send the case to Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut,”…
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Tattooed body found off Phuket beach, believed to be foreigner
PHUKET: Police are trying to establish the identity of a body, believed to be of a foreign man, found floating off Pansea Beach this morning. The gruesome discovery was made by Santisuk Patkhim, a beach guard at the upscale Amanpuri Resort. Mr Santisuk secured the body then called Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers to help bring it to shore. “So far…
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Governor orders probe into “reckless’ bungy-jump operators
PHUKET: Governor Maitri Inthusut has ordered police to investigate the illegal construction site of the Phuket bungy-jump tower where two men died and one was seriously injured on Friday (story here). “I received a report that the bungy-jump tower was illegal. The owners were issued a permit to construct a building 12 meters tall, but they erected a structure reaching…
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Phuket officials order a halt to deadly bungy jump
PHUKET: Officers have ordered a halt to any further development of the illegal bungy-jumping site in Phuket where two men died and one was seriously injured Friday night. “It was built more than four times higher than had been approved,” said Chalong Mayor Samran Jindapol. The Chalong Municipality had approved construction of a 12-meter jump tower. However, the final construction,…
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Kamala combats black water threat
PHUKET: Phuket officials pushed for a 300-million-baht water-treatment plant on Friday after Kamala residents filed a complaint about stinking black wastewater. Officials and residents chalked the rancid water up to laundries and residents washing clothes and releasing the untreated wastewater into a canal that connects to the sea, said Krit Sariya, chief of the Kamala branch of the Community Organizations…
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Police begin hunt for French murder suspects
PHUKET: Police are hunting for suspects involved in the killing of a French national who was found dead in a Phuket rental room yesterday. The body of Fabrioe Boigeol, 37, was found lying partially under a stripped mattress in a room at the Morgot Resort in Chalong at about 1:45pm (story here). “Police and forensic investigators are checking CCTV in…
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Two dead in Phuket bungy jumping accident
PHUKET: Two men died and one was seriously injured in a Phuket bungy-jump test last night after the lift they were on crashed to the ground. The owner, Tossaporn Suksri, 27, and his mechanic Pitakchai Wongsricha, 30, were waiting in the lift for their turn to test the jump when a malfunction caused the platform they were standing on to…
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Video Report: Phuket’s B70mn one-stop yacht center to open Monday
PHUKET: Two years behind schedule and 70 million baht in the making, Phuket’s long-awaited one-stop yacht center will open with a two-week trial period, starting on Monday. “Officers involved in yacht-arrival services, such as immigration, customs and the harbor master, are now moving into their new offices,” Phuket Marine Chief Phuripat Theerakulpisut told the Phuket Gazette. The rotunda-style building at…
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Police suspect French national murdered in Phuket
PHUKET: A 37-year-old French national was found dead in his underwear in a rental room in Phuket this afternoon. The Parisian was found in a pool of blood partially under a stripped mattress at the Morgot Resort in Chalong. There was evidence of blunt trauma to the side of his head. Police believe he had been dead for more than…
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Video Report: ITF Seniors Tennis tournament at Thanyapura a success
PHUKET: Thanyapura Phuket ITF Seniors Tennis Tournament organizers said they were very pleased to see such a great turnout of players at the event, which took place from April 7 to 12. Many players also expressed their gratitude to the event organizers and praised the quality of the facilities where the tournament took place. It was a good start for…
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Phuket closes Songkran Seven Days of Danger with one dead, 22 injured
PHUKET: The Songkran Seven Days of Danger national road-safety campaign drew to a close at midnight last night with Phuket amassing a tally of one death and 22 people injured during the week-long holiday. Saeree Panitkul, the chief administrative officer at the Phuket Provincial Office, reported the news at the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket office (DDPM-Phuket) this…
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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