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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12Go introduces Japan Rail Passes to enhance travel accessibility for international travellers
For those who have travelled throughout Thailand, 12Go is a well-known provider of various trips, though the platform itself has a much wider reach. Ranging from buses to planes, 12Go is undoubtedly a leading booking platform for travel throughout the...
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Patong elections set for April 26, bringing another weekend alcohol ban
PHUKET: The Patong by-election has been set for Saturday, April 26. After former Patong Mayor Pian Keesin was found guilty of electoral fraud on March 7 (story here), new elections were required by law to take place within 60 days, explained Patong Municipality Chief Administrative Officer Poonsuk Narksena. Candidate registrations will be accepted on the third floor at Patong Municipality…
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Phuket’s B120mn road to Freedom Beach inches forward
PHUKET: The controversial new road planned to provide access to Freedom Beach, south of Patong, took a step closer to becoming reality as the project passed its third and final public hearing on Friday. About 80 of the 100 participants who joined the hearing, held at the Patong Merlin Hotel, voted to approve the project, rebounding from a 64 per…
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Phuket national park encroachment investigation in full swing again
PHUKET: The plot thickened in the ongoing investigation into encroachment onto Sirinath Marine National Park yesterday as five former park chiefs were accused of signing documents allowing encroachment. “After reviewing several land titles from owners in the area, we discovered that five chiefs signed their names, making it legal for landowners to build on land that is part of Sirinath…
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Blackout strikes third of island as Phuket sees year’s first rain
PHUKET: A blown transformer was responsible for a two-hour blackout in parts of Phuket on Saturday afternoon, said an official at the Phuket Provincial Electrical Authority (PPEA). Electricity shut off in Chalong, Rawai, Kathu, Patong, Kathu and some areas of Phuket Town at about 3pm. “After we got calls from the public, we sent a repair crew out. Within two…
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Phuket Sports: Phuket FC and TTM Customs draw at Surakul Stadium
PHUKET: With a full moon overhead and a smoke filled sky, the scene yesterday evening in Phuket Town seemed more appropriate for a zombie apocalypse than a football match. The living dead did not make it out to the game, however, 5,100 fans did, and cheered on their home team Phuket FC as they lined up against TTM Customs. Coming…
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Mysterious deaths of Quebec sisters may be due to lethal dose of pesticide
PHUKET: Two Canadian sisters who died mysteriously on the popular resort island of Phi Phi in 2012 may have ingested toxic amounts of a lethal pesticide called aluminum phosphide, reports Canadian news network CBC. The highly toxic pesticide is used to control bedbugs in some holiday hotels in Asia and may have contributed to the deaths of Audrey and Noemi…
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Rain breaks Phuket’s worst drought in 30 years
PHUKET: The skies parted to deliver scattered showers across the island late this afternoon to break Phuket’s lowest recorded rainfall between the months of January and March for 30 years. Governor Maitri Inthusut yesterday morning chaired an annual meeting at the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation-Phuket (DDPM-Phuket) office to plan water usage strategies for the dry season. “After receiving…
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Dazed and confused: Danish expat crashes into Thalang store
PHUKET: Police are still looking for an explanation as to what caused a car driven by a Danish expat to fly off the road and plunge into an appliance store in Thalang on Thursday evening.Police arrived at the scene, about 250 meters from Baan Nai Klam Mosque on the southbound side of Thepkrasattri Road, at about 6:30pm.The 50-year-old driver, Per…
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Phuket tour bus drivers caught in Patong Hill checkpoint drug blitz
Note: Since this story was posted, a representative from the tour company Pegas Touristik affirmed that no drivers associated with the company tested positive for drugs in the blitz. PHUKET: The new police and transport office safety checkpoint for buses about to cross over Patong Hill netted 16 drivers who tested positive for drugs in its first day of operation…
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Murder brings curfew for Myanmar workers in Patong
PHUKET: Patong police announced today that Myanmar workers living in Patong will be arrested if they are found outside of their camps after 10pm. The curfew is in response to the murder of a Thai man by a group of Myanmar nationals early Tuesday morning in Patong. “Construction operators typically keep the passports of their workers. If we stop workers…
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Chinese tourists safe after brakes fail on Phuket’s Patong Hill
PHUKET: The driver of a Phuket tour bus avoided a serious accident on Patong Hill this morning by running the bus off the road before driving down the steep slope on the east side of the hill.Bus driver Sutthichai Pohad was ferrying about 20 Chinese tourists from Patong to Phuket Town at about 8am when he realized the brakes were…
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Phuket Airport customs officers nail drug mule with B7mn of ya ice
PHUKET: Customs officers at Phuket International Airport on Tuesday arrested a drug mule attempting to smuggle 7 million baht of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine) from China into Phuket. The 37-year-old woman, Pornphat Wattanachaisen, was on a watchlist for possible involvement in drug smuggling when she departed Bangkok to China, said Phuket Airport Customs Director Montira Cherdchoo. “We learned that Ms…
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Vichit Bicycle Cup kicks off
PHUKET: This weekend will see the start of the Vichit Bicycle Cup 2014 tournament, which kicks off on Sunday, March 16. The competition aims to promote tourism in the area and encourage more people to use bicycles. On March 7, at the Suan Sriphunaat Park in Phuket, a press conference was held to announce the Cup and was hosted by…
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Special Report: Phuket’s stolen passports shine light on illegal migrant corridor to Europe
Special Report Passports stolen in Phuket that were used to board ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 have placed Phuket in the center of an international maelstrom. Thousands of passports are reported lost or stolen in Thailand each year, and the region is gaining a reputation as a gateway for international asylum seekers to reach Europe. The Phuket Gazette’s Saran Mitrarat…
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Shark killed off Phuket Beach raises online ire
PHUKET: Photos posted online of a foreigner killing a small shark at Kata Noi Beach prompted outrage, but the act was legal, a marine official said. The pictures, posted on the Go Eco Phuket Facebook page (click here) yesterday, showed a man in the act of killing the shark on a rock. The post read, “We just received these awful…
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30 cops for 30 gamblers in Phuket Town raid
PHUKET: Phuket and Bangkok police arrested more than 30 people for gambling on football in Phuket Town last night. About 30 officers took part in the raid at a shop near the Nimit Circle (also called the Seahorse Circle), said Phuket City Police Superintendent Sermphan Sirikong. “We went in at about 9pm and found more than 30 people either filling…
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Raging Phuket black market passport trade
PHUKET: Police have admitted they are powerless to prevent motorcycle and car rental operators from holding foreign tourists’ passports as collateral against potential damage to rented vehicles. The news comes as the island’s top police officers try to stymie the fallout from international news reports branding Phuket a key source for stolen passports in the wake of the mysterious disappearance…
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Phuket Sports: A fun-filled football function
PHUKET: Yesterday morning, March 13, the Palm House International School Rawai hosted a football skills clinic for their students, as well as a group of fellow students from the nearby Wat Sawang Arom School. About thirty students took part in the activities, which were led by Phuket FC players Ricarte Dos Santos Tales, Namchai Yongyuth, Alef Poh-ji and Wuttichai Sooksen.…
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Phuket Police go for the balls to unite Patong
PHUKET: Patong Police Superintendent Chiraphat Pochanaphan, ousted by the tuk-tuk blockade of Patong last week, is back and considering using ball sports, namely a football match, to unite competing factions in the busy resort town. Col Chiraphat quietly returned to work on Monday, less than a week after his abrupt transfer to stave off violence during a blockade of the…
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Phuket Police push Line app to combat passport thefts at motorbike rental shops
PHUKET: Patong Police yesterday recommended motorbike rental operators take photos of renters and their passports and upload them to Line, a smartphone application, in order to prevent passport theft. The initiative follows the discovery that two passengers aboard missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 had boarded with passports stolen in Phuket (story here), at least one of them from a shop…
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Local Phuket student could be ‘The Star’
PHUKET: A local Phuket student is battling it out in the last rounds of The Star, a popular Thai singing competition broadcast on nationwide television every weekend. Phuket Governor Maitri called on fellow Phuket residents to cast their votes in support of Natthawadee “Nong Nut” Dokkrathin, a student from Satree Phuket School, who is one of eight final contestants on…
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Phuket’s annual Battle of Thalang festival returns
PHUKET: The annual Battle of Thalang festival begins at Victory Memorial Field tonight, marking Phuket’s stand against Burmese invaders at the site 229 years ago. The Victory Memorial Field recently received a 26-million-baht makeover and welcomed the addition of 2.5-meter-tall statues cast in bronze honoring the Nine Heroes (story here). Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut this morning led a wreath-laying ceremony…
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Snake jumps queue for ID card at Phuket district office
PHUKET: A snake made its way into the ID card section of the Thalang District Office yesterday, causing people waiting in line and officers alike to run screaming from the building. “I saw the snake go into the ID card section, where a lot of people were queued,” said Chief Administrative Officer Sakorn Liponkate. “I shouted a warning and everyone…
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Phuket Red Cross launches March mobile donation mission
PHUKET: The Red Cross Society in Phuket has announced its upcoming mobile donation clinic schedule for the month of March in hopes of restoring essential blood stocks. “We currently only have 20 units of blood type A, 120 units of type B, 190 units of type O and 50 units of type AB,” said Chief Pornthip Rattajak of the Phuket…
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DNA test confirms body parts are of missing Phuket girl Nong Dear, 7
PHUKET: The human remains found in a Chalong pine forest last December are those of missing 7-year-old Nong Dear, police confirmed today. “The Institute of Forensic Medicine in Bangkok unofficially confirmed on Monday that the DNA of the body parts found in Chalong matches those of Nong Dear’s parents,” Capt Thada Sodarak of the Chalong Police told the Phuket Gazette.…
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Russian on motorbike kills Phuket security guard
PHUKET: A resort employee in Karon who was helping tourists cross the street was struck and killed by a Russian motorcyclist on Friday morning. Sayun Sarawaree, 37, a security guard with Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa, was stopping traffic on Patak Road West so that tourists could get to the beach, said Sub Lt Niphon Temsang of the Karon…
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Phuket Sports: Laguna reclaim top spot
PHUKET: Laguna remained undefeated and reclaimed top spot in the Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) Phuket cricket league by defeating The Village on Sunday, March 9 at the Alan Cooke Ground (ACG). Things started well for Laguna when they won the toss and chose to bat first, as most teams normally prefer to do. The extremely dry and hot conditions also…
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Tourist Police confirm round up of Phuket dive instructors
PHUKET: Tourist Police joined forces with the Chalong Police yesterday afternoon and took into custody more than 20 dive instructors as they disembarked from their respective dive tour boats at Chalong Pier. “I don’t think the Chalong Police pressed charges. To my knowledge, the dive shop staffers were taken to Chalong Police Station to have their work permits checked,” Urumporn…
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Unidentified body found off Phuket beach
PHUKET: Lifeguards stationed at the Karon Rescue Center, on Phuket’s west coast, recovered an unidentified body near Yanui Beach this afternoon. “The body was discovered a few kilometers offshore,” Kata-Karon chief lifeguard Uten Singsom told the Phuket Gazette. The remains had deteriorated extensively due to exposure in the sea, Mr Uten explained. “From the remains, our lifeguards believe it was…
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Phuket motorbike shop hands out wrong passport in return for a stolen one
PHUKET: Police investigating stolen passports linked to the missing Malaysian Flight MH370 questioned the owner of a Phuket motorbike rental shop from which one of the passports used to board the flight was stolen. Luigi Maraldi explained to the press yesterday that he filed a report to the Patong Police on July 25 last year confirming that his passport was…
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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