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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Russian expat likely killed in shallow-water blackout, says expert
PHUKET: A freediving expert believes that long-term Phuket expat and Russian freediver Denis Lipatov, 39, drowned off Koh Racha Noi on Saturday afternoon after diving alone and suffering a shallow-water blackout. Mr Lipatov, freediving alone, made his last descent at 3:50pm, to 25.5 meters according to his dive computer. The computer also recorded a very fast ascent, explained one of…
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Seat belt saves Phuket chief judge in auto wreck
PHUKET: Phuket Court Chief Judge Parinya Chaowalittawin became a traffic-accident statistic over the weekend when he survived an accident en route to Krabi. “I was on my way to see my parents in Trang, and had left Phuket at about 4:30am on Saturday,” Mr Parinya told the Phuket Gazette.“It was about 6am and I was some two kilometers past Krabi…
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Phuket’s new top cop makes a stand for human dignity
PHUKET: The incoming commander of the Phuket Provincial Police, Maj Gen Ong-art Phiwruangnont, has vowed to better protect the privacy and human dignity of suspects by calling for careful consideration before staging public “re-enactments” of crimes and criminal press conferences.“I will not order a ban on officers staging such events, but I will ask the superintendents of all police stations…
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Bangla daylight raid nets Phuket slow loris
PHUKET: Kathu District Chief Veera Kerdsirimongkol yesterday led a team of officers along Patong’s Soi Bangla in a daylight raid that netted one slow loris tout.Warawuth Saiudom, 20, from Kalasin province, was caught in the act of receiving money from a tourist for having a photo taken with one of the nocturnal creatures.“An undercover officer informed us that a slow…
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Tour operators warned of imposters in Similian National Park
PHUKET: The Similan Islands National Park authority has warned tour operators over a group of people posing as park officers and offering reduced entry fees to the islands. “A couple of weeks ago, a number of tour operators informed me that there was a group of people who approached them, claiming to be national park officers,” Similan Islands National Park…
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Phuket wild boars ravage football-golf greens
PHUKET: A sounder of wild boar has settled on an 18-hole “Football Golf Course” in Chalong as their preferred dining area, but in the pigs’ quest for cuisine, they’ve left damaging divots on the greens. “Our course is currently under attack by wild boars, which are rampaging through it at night and ripping up our greens,” said Neil Simmons of…
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Alarmed drunkard dumps temple bell, flees scene
PHUKET: Police are on the lookout for a man who reportedly tried to sell a temple bell to a secondhand store in Thalang while drunk. Natthakarn Rattanaphan, 33, called the Thalang Police yesterday afternoon after a man arrived at her secondhand store in front of the well-known Term Fun housing estate in Baan Manik (map here). “The man, aged about…
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Go Eco Phuket starts eco-warrior recruitment
PHUKET: The first fifty people to contact local marine conservation group Go Eco Phuket will earn a spot at the Go Eco Camp, which plans on certifying and training islanders to be active marine conservationists. “Go Eco camp is now open for applicants. Applications will be accepted from expats, students and locals until November,” Jirayu Naragoonphithak, the project’s coordinator, told…
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Krabi’s Andaman Eagles swoop down on Phuket FC
PHUKET: The Islanders fell into 11th place of the 18-team Yamaha League One (YL1) as a result of their latest defeat, 3-1 to Krabi FC in a tense “Andaman derby” match on Saturday evening in Krabi Town. As a result, Phuket FC and the Krabi “Andaman Eagles” swapped rankings, the latter moving up to 9th place with 38 points –…
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Phuket hitman Rambo denies death squad charges
PHUKET: Joseph Manuel Hunter, 48 – nicknamed “Rambo” and arrested at his rented Phuket home last Thursday, as originally reported by the Phuket Gazette (story here) – has denied charges of recruiting a team of former military snipers to commit murders on behalf of two Colombian drug cartel leaders. The cartel leaders were, in fact, Drug Enforcement Administration informants posing…
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Phuket tour bus brakes fail, driver avoids disaster
PHUKET: Faulty brakes almost resulted in a tour bus smashing into a house on Patong Hill last night, in a near-repeat of an accident that occurred at almost the same location about four months ago (story here). “No injuries were reported. The Daow Duang Mai Travel company bus had no passengers. It was only carrying tourists’ luggage when the accident…
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Phuket’s new ‘top cop’ arrives on the island
PHUKET: Phuket’s new Provincial Police Commander, Maj Genl Ong-art Phiewruangnont, has arrived in Phuket. On arriving here yesterday evening, in a convoy of nine police vehicles, Maj Gen Ong-art first visited Baan Muang Mai stone and then the Heroines Monument, to pay his respects to Phuket’s illustrious history and cultural heritage. Speaking to the Phuket Gazette before his arrival, Maj…
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Rubber protests yield gains in Phuket
PHUKET: Rubber protests in recent weeks in Southern Thailand are now paying dividends for plantation owners in Phuket and the rest of the nation. Though the direct demands of the protests, which included a government subsidy for sheets of rubber were not met, the government has allocated a total of over 21 billion baht to be paid out to households…
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Kata jet-ski operator attacks Israeli tourists
PHUKET: Two Israelis, a father and son, were attacked and injured by a jet-ski operator wielding a “No Swimming” flag-pole on Kata Beach yesterday afternoon. The attack was motivated by damage to the jet-ski the pair had rented, the attacker – who was arrested soon afterward – told the police. “When we arrived at the scene, we found a lot…
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Samkong underpass construction set to begin in November
PHUKET: Construction is to start on the 850-million-baht underpass at the Samkong intersection in mid-November.“We have already started to clear the area in preparation for the construction,” Phuket Highways Office Director Samak Luedwonghad told the Phuket Gazette this week.“We will start by digging up the median strip on the bypass road north of the Samkong intersection,” he said.Drivers should be…
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Video Report: Transnational drug lord Hunter deported, new Thai search laws enacted
PHUKET: High on the United States authorities’ most-wanted list, Joseph Manuel Hunter was deported back to the US this morning, days after the Prevention and Suppression of Transnational Organized Crime Act was enacted in Thailand. Mr Hunter, 48, who was arrested in Phuket by officers from Phuket Immigration and the Crime Suppression Division on Wednesday (story here). He was taken…
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Police boost ranks as high season approaches
PHUKET: Much needed police boots will march onto the island in mid-November to help protect the swelling numbers of tourists and the general population of Phuket as officers ready for high season. “Our ranks will grow by 146 officers by mid-November,” said Phuket Provincial Deputy Commander Saneh Yawila. On September 25, 49 more officers will take station on Phuket and…
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Police ordered to carry out weekend blitz on crime
PHUKET: One of Thailand’s top-ranking police officers has ordered Phuket law-enforcement authorities to ramp up their crackdown on all forms of crime over the weekend as part of a blitz to improve tourists’ confidence in safety. Gen Wuthi Liptapallop, a national-level adviser to the Royal Thai Police, was in Phuket yesterday to review progress made in the island-wide crackdown launched…
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Gunman Dj Bee on the run
PHUKET: Police suspect Dj Bee and his two alleged accomplices in the gunning down of man in Phuket’s party town of Patong on Sunday have fled the island. “The court issued an arrest warrant yesterday for Wanchit Sornsaree (also known as Dj Bee), Tookta Saleekoop and Moe Than Daroo for attempted murder and the possession of an illegal firearm and…
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Strict firework controls put in place for upcoming Vegetarian Festival
PHUKET: Officials agreed on Wednesday to adapt extra measures to control the use and sale of fireworks during the Vegetarian Festival next week, with special emphasis on keeping particularly loud and quick-to-ignite pyrotechnics off the streets.The small red strings of firecrackers will be allowed, said Chaiwat Taephee, Phuket Provincial Chief Administrative Officer (Palad). But only at shrines and during parades.Officials…
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Patong Mayor Pian suspended
PHUKET: Patong Mayor Pian Keesin was suspended from office by the Administrative Court Region 8 in Phuket Town yesterday over a vote fraud complaint filed against him by the Election Commission in Bangkok. “We received the court order yesterday instructing Mayor Pian to cease all activities in his capacity as Mayor of Patong,” confirmed an official at Mayor Pian’s office.…
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Phuket sex show raids not coming – yet
PHUKET: The chief of police in Phuket’s premier party town of Patong has confirmed that he has yet to receive any order to launch a crackdown on lewd shows on Soi Bangla. “As soon as we receive such an order, we are willing to do whatever the order demands,” Patong Police Superintendent Chiraphat Pochanaphan told the Phuket Gazette this morning.…
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Water stoppage to hit parts of Phuket on Monday
PHUKET: The water supply is set to be suspended to parts of Phuket on Monday, September 30. Residences and businesses in Kamala, Cherng Talay, Sri Soonthorn, Koh Kaew and Rassada will be affected. “We have to stop the water supply on Monday to expand the piping network in order to extend our service to Baan Mak Prok, in the Mai…
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Similian National Park to protect swimmers from speedboats
PHUKET: The Similan National Park chief vowed to establish zones to protect swimmers from speedboats* as the park prepares for opening day on November 1.The swimmers will be separated from speedboats by buoys.“This will prevent swimmers and snorkellers from being hit by speeboats. We want to ensure that all visitors feel safe, and can fully enjoy their visit to the…
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No rest for the weary: Man comes home from work, is busted for drugs
PHUKET: A Myanmar native returned home from work on Tuesday only to be arrested for drugs by Phuket Police officers who were lying in wait at his house. Police raided a camp in Chalong after receiving a tip-off that workers at the camp were selling kratom leaves. The workers living in the four houses at the camp fled when they…
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Video Report: Driver trapped in car for 30 minutes after crash
PHUKET: A pickup truck collided with a car on Thepkrasattri Road last night, trapping the driver of the car in her badly mangled vehicle for more than 30 minutes.The pickup truck driver, Rapeeporn Chonlasi, told police that while heading north, she lost control of her vehicle on a curve and crossed the median trip into southbound traffic. When police arrived…
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Light-fingered job-seeker nabbed for Phuket hotel thefts
PHUKET: An out-of-town job-hunter applying for positions in Phuket’s hotel industry has been arrested for stealing from hotel guestrooms.Following a tip-off from a Patong hotel manager, police arrested Teerawat Yordying, 29, from Trang province. “We searched all over Phuket for Mr Teerawat. Finally, at 11:30pm [on Tuesday], we found him in an entertainment venue area on Srisena Road in Phuket…
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NFL Week Two summary: Texans, Dolphins impress
PHUKET: After nine long months of hype and waiting, Phuket fans of American Football can once again indulge themselves in the National Football League, heading into a third week of play this weekend. There are too many games and story lines to cover comprehensively, so we’ll just look at some of the trends that have emerged from the first two…
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Massive Phuket mystery intensifies, but announcement promised for ‘today’
PHUKET: When Winston Churchill in October of 1939 spoke of “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”, he was referring to Russia, but he might with at least equal validity have been speaking of an event that had captured the imagination of the world two years earlier: the disappearance of Amelia Earhart from the skies over the Western…
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Man gunned down over business negotiation, not love-triangle
PHUKET: The victim of Sunday’s shooting drama in Patong has changed his story about the cause of the attack. When interviewed by the police while recovering from a gunshot wound in his left shoulder, Worrawut Thaweeapideeserm said he was shot because he was suspected of being the third member of a love triangle (story here). But yesterday, the 24-year-old told…
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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