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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Second big bike fatality in 24 hours claims life of British national
PHUKET: A British national died in a high-speed motorbike crash on Chao Fa East Road early this morning. The 31-year-old man, whose name the Phuket Gazette is withholding until family members are notified, overshot a curve while driving a 1000cc Yamaha R1 and crashed into a roadside post near Wat Ladthiwanaram (map here) just after midnight, explained Sub Lt Kraisorn…
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Teen masseuse falls from fourth floor after argument with boyfriend
PHUKET: A 17-year-old masseuse is in a coma after falling from the fourth floor of a building following an argument with her boyfriend. The young woman was discovered unconscious and severely injured on the ground behind the Phuket Town massage parlor where she worked, a Kusoldharm Foundation rescue worker told the Phuket Gazette. Rescue workers administered emergency first aid before…
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Rash of motorbike burnings in Phuket continues
PHUKET: Eight more motorbikes have been torched in Phuket, this time in a housing estate off of Vichit Songkram Road, near Prince of Songkla University. At 3:30 this morning, police were called to the C apartment block in the Moo Baan Irawadee Ketho Yee Teng housing estate, where they found eight burned motorbikes. “I believe the fire started from a…
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Nervous Phuket duo reveal drug bulge in underpants to police
PHUKET: Police stationed at a Thalang checkpoint discovered three packages of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine) after they delved into the pants of two “nervous” men on Friday. Officers manning a checkpoint on Thepkrasattri Road in Srisoonthorn stopped Tossawat Meesukanukoon, 22 and Pasit Kittijaruensin, also 22, because they looked “suspiciously nervous” as they approached the checkpoint on their motorbike. “We found…
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Phuket Gazette Sports: London does it; EPL nail-biters; Vettel wins
Big crowds, black ribbons for Boston at London Marathon Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Undaunted by the Boston Marathon bombings, big crowds lined the route of London’s mass road race to cheer on around 36,000 runners, many of whom wore black ribbons to remember the dead and wounded. Hundreds of extra police were deployed to secure the first race in…
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Tennis Update: Chang-SAT ITF Pro Circuit 2013
PHUKET: Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club (TSLC) is currently hosting a round of the prestigious International Tennis Federation (ITF) pro tennis circuit. Scroll down for today’s schedule and yesterday’s results. The 2013 ITF round consists of two consecutive women’s tournaments from April 20 to April 27 and April 27 to May 4. The highlight of the Chang-SAT ITF Pro Circuit…
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Thai Football: Phuket FC buries Khon Kaen’s ‘T-Rex’ in injury time
PHUKET: A late winner by Brazilian striker Luiz “Dudu” Purcino secured all three points for Phuket FC in their home match against Yamaha League One rivals, Khon Kaen FC, last night. Phuket wasted a number of chances throughout the game and the match looked destined to end 0-0, until Dudu scored his last gasp winner with one of the last…
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Raw sewage leaves Phuket residents retching
PHUKET: Polluted water with a stench so overpowering it is making people physically ill has become the bane of residents along the banks of the Bang Yai Canal in Phuket Town. “People vomit and get serious headaches,” said Samkong resident Lek Bumrung. “Dirty water is released into the canal at odd intervals, day or night,” she said. “But each time…
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Earth Day celebrated with Phuket beach cleanup
PHUKET: Earth Day, underway in Phuket and around the world Monday, will see local residents, tourists and island visitors take to Kata Beach in an effort to preserve the island’s environment with Go Eco Phuket’s beach cleanup. Those wanting to take part in the Earth Day activity on Kata Beach are encouraged to meet at 8:30am at the north end…
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Phuket Oilfield Classic drives new record
PHUKET: THE 5th annual Phuket Oilfield Classic (POC) charity golf tournament attracted more than 130 oil and gas executives from around the world, who gathered on the island earlier this month for four days of golf and entertainment (click here for final results table). After the welcome cocktail party on April 4, teams of four enjoyed a great first day…
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London Marathon is on
London lays on 40 percent more police for marathon Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Britain is increasing police numbers by 40 percent for tomorrow’s London marathon as part of an effort to reassure competitors and spectators after bombs devastated the Boston race on Monday (click here for the latest update). Two explosions near the finish line of the Boston race…
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Phuket Laguna Golf Club cuts green fees
PHUKET: Laguna Phuket Golf Club is offering Thai and expat golfers cut-price green fees of 1,800 baht for 18 holes during the current low season – less than half the usual 4,200 baht visitor rate. This offer is available until October 2013, but the green fees exclude caddy fee. Meanwhile, Laguna Phuket Golf Club recently hosted the second match of…
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TPL teams struggle against champions
PHUKET: Thailand’s two representatives in the AFC Champions League, Muang Thong United and Buriram United, are struggling to make it out of the competition’s group stages. Muang Thong’s form in the Champions League is the polar opposite of their five-game unbeaten start to the 2013 Thai Premier League (TPL) season. The current TPL champions are rooted to the bottom of…
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Chonburi top AFC qualifiers
PHUKET: Thailand’s Futsal Premier League (TFPL) champions, Chonburi Bluewave finished top of the AFC Futsal Club Championship 2013 Zone 2 Qualifiers. The Zone 2 qualifying groups comprised of ASEAN and East Asian teams, while Zone 1 has West, South and Central Asian teams. Zone 2 featured two groups, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the semifinals.…
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Phuket Police pursuit nets drug suspect from fish pond
PHUKET: Phuket City Police in hot pursuit of a drug suspect yesterday finally arrested their man after hauling him out of a fish pond in Rassada.Police were alerted to the suspect when officers at a checkpoint on Palian Road in Phuket Town saw a new Toyota Vios, still bearing red license plates, pull over just short of the checkpoint at…
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Temperatures, tyres and tactics – F1
PHUKET: Before Shanghai, I predicted correctly that Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso would be on the podium, but who would be the third driver to join them? In the event it was Lewis Hamilton, but in truth it could have been any driver in the first half of the field (click here for article). If only Felipe Massa’s car had…
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Phuket Justice: Hope fades for finding Jintana’s executioners
PHUKET: Police officers’ hopes are dissipating as they once again turn to the public for help in finding the executioners of Jintana Mahattanapak, who was shot in the head on her way home from work in January. With leads running out earlier this year, police were banking on CCTV footage captured in the area to help identify the killers or…
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Phuket’s first underpass to open early next year
PHUKET: To alleviate the ongoing traffic tailbacks at the construction site of Phuket’s first underpass (story here), the project managers will open all three lanes of the underpass at the beginning of next year. “So far, the underpass is 11 per cent complete. At the beginning of next year, it will be opened for road users,” Department of Highways’ Bureau…
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Phuket Tiger Disco fire charges parried, delayed
PHUKET: The Phuket Chief Public Prosecutor’s attempt to levy a series of charges against Tiger Group CEO Piya Isaramalai and Sara Entertainment Co Ltd after a fatal blaze killed four people at Patong’s famous Tiger Disco nightclub on August 17 have been delayed for a second time. “The charges were originally given the green light last month [story here],” Phuket…
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Phuket Songkran 2013 road death toll to remain at zero – forever
PHUKET: The nationwide Seven Days of Danger road safety campaign ended at midnight last night, with the official tally of no deaths in Phuket to remain as the formal record forever, the chief of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket office (DDPM-Phuket) has confirmed. Officers at the DDPM-Phuket, when contacted by the Phuket Gazette today, said they had…
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Phuket chef charged with setting alight motorbikes
PHUKET: A chef at a seafood restaurant in Karon has confessed to setting alight three motorbikes after he was shown CCTV footage of himself throwing a live cigarette butt at one of the vehicles.Karon Police arrested Ek Musika, 39, at 5:30pm yesterday after officers tracked him down through the CCTV footage of the incident and by questioning local residents.The incident…
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Boston bombing prompts Phuket Airport security boost
PHUKET: Security at Phuket International Airport has been boosted in the wake of the tragic bombing of the Boston Marathon on Monday, which killed three people and injured at least 180 more. The move follows Pongsak Semsant, caretaker president of Airports of Thailand (AOT), announcing the security boost for all major AOT airports in Thailand, including Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang…
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Tourists offer high praise for rescue efforts after storm sinks dive boat north of Phuket
PHUKET: Tourists have heaped high praise on all those involved in the rescue of 30 people from a sinking dive boat and the safe recovery of 425 others after a severe storm left a flotilla of tour boats returning from the Similan Islands stranded at Koh Ta Chai, north of Phuket. The 24-meter dive boat Little Princess, with 30 people…
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Phuket’s first fatality of Songkran Seven Days of Danger hits on day six
PHUKET: Phuket’s run of zero road fatalities during the Songkran Seven Days of Danger holiday period ended early this morning, when 75-year-old Phuket native Jingiang Jamreunnam died from injuries sustained in a motorbike accident.Mr Jingiang was riding an unsafe motorbike when it collided with a pickup truck in Phuket Town at 8:30am yesterday.He suffered a serious head injury and died…
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Phuket Songkran road toll remains at zero dead
PHUKET: The fifth day of the Seven Days of Danger nationwide road-safety campaign came to a close at midnight last night with the death toll for the Thai new year holiday period in Phuket remaining at zero.The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket office (DDPM-Phuket), which collates all road accident statistics in Phuket during the campaign, reported two motorbike…
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Gimp thief not gold shop killer; identified by chicken-frying ladyboy
PHUKET: It was briefly thought they had snared the Phuket gold shop killer (story here) when Karon Police yesterday arrested a burglar with a limp – one of the key characteristics in the search for the murderer. Phuket City policeman Lt Col Prawit Engchuan joined the questioning of the suspect but said afterward, “We determined that he has no connection…
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Phuket Songkran: Four days without death on the roads
PHUKET: For the first time in years, Phuket has maintained its zero death toll for the first four days of the Songkran Seven Days of Danger national road-safety campaign. The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket office (DDPM-Phuket), which collates all road accident statistics for Phuket during the campaign, reported three road accidents, injuring three people, from midnight Saturday…
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Phuket Police release graphic YouTube video of gold shop robbery
PHUKET: In an effort to identify an armed robber of a Phuket gold shop, police have released a graphic YouTube video of the man entering the C.P. Gold Master & Jewelry store and shooting dead one of the customers (story here). In addition to releasing the video compiled from CCTV camera footage, police will be plastering Phuket with wanted posters,…
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All silent on Phuket Tourist Police kratom shootout
PHUKET: The two survivors of a lethal shootout at an apartment near Phuket Town last month have both refused to give police statements describing the events that led to the fatal gunfight. Sen Sgt Maj Pinchai Piyadilok of the Phuket Tourist Police remains at the Prince of Songkla University Hospital in Haad Yai, where he is recovering from gunshot wounds…
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Phuket Police bust ATM card fraud gang
PHUKET: Tourist Police have arrested two French nationals and a Tunisian man for operating an ATM card fraud scam in Phuket.The foreigners – named by police as French nationals Mahamond Mhoussin, 22, and Zaidi Ganzouai, 29, and Tunisian national Ramzi Adjemi, 31 – were presented to the press at the Phuket Tourist Police headquarters in Phuket Town this morning.“Tourist Police…
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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