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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Phuket Live Wire: Is the iPad rotting your child’s brain?
PHUKET: In 2010 and 2011, there was a rash of articles in the popular press saying that iPads, iPhones, tablets and the like would rot your kid’s brain. It’s hard to wade through headlines like these from the New York Times and not feel like an iPad is the root of all kiddy evil: “Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction,…
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Phuket’s Bussarin takes tennis gold
PHUKET: Phuket’s Bussarin Raktaengam won the final of the girls’ singles tennis event of the Phuket Games 2012 this morning with a 6-4, 6-3 straight-sets victory over Rongrong Linbanjong of Bangkok. The win made Bussarin the third Phuket athlete to snatch two golds in the games, which comes to their conclusion with a big celebration tomorrow evening at Surakul Stadium,…
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Phuket marks Visaka Bucha Day
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha this morning led more than 1,000 people in offering alms to 99 monks at a merit-making ceremony in Phuket Town to mark Visakha Bucha Day. Visakha Bucha Day is observed on the day of the full moon during the 6th lunar month, which usually falls in either May or early June. It is a day…
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Phuket police confirm identity of mutilated man
PHUKET: Phuket Police have identified the mutilated body that washed ashore at Nai Yang Beach yesterday. Tah Chat Chai Police identified the man as 36-year-old Santi Chandaeng, originally from Udon Thani but most recently living in Phuket’s Thalang District. The man’s wife, Roongruthai Phaha, 35, told police that her husband was last seen departing for a fishing trip on Saturday.…
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Phuket Crime: Mutilated body found on Nai Yang Beach
PHUKET: Police in Phuket are trying to identify a mutilated body that washed ashore at Nai Yang Beach yesterday morning as the first step in a murder investigation. Tah Chat Chai police were notified of the discovery in Sakoo Village 1 at about 11am. Arriving at the scene with Phuket Kusoldharm Foundation workers, Lt Col Prakob Boonkwan and fellow officers…
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Phuket Democrats rally against reconciliation bills
PHUKET: Democrat Party members staged a protest in Phuket on Friday to denounce the reconciliation bills set to be discussed in Parliament. The gathering made Phuket the first province to rally against the bill, said Democrat MP Sathit Wongnongtoey.Over 2,000 joined the rally at Queen Sirikit Park in Phuket Town, led by veteran MP Anchalee Vanich Thepabutr and MP Raywat…
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Phuket banks another gold in the games
PHUKET: Despite being one of the smallest provinces in Thailand, Phuket continues to make big waves at the 28th National Youth Games (Phuket Games 2012) now underway on the island. The island’s gold medal tally now stands at 13, following Somkiat Kraisrisombat’s win of the gold yesterday in the Boys’ Singles event at CS Bowl, Big C Supercenter.Steady-handed Somkiat won…
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Phuket volunteers join cleanup at Koh Racha
PHUKET: After being lambasted by environmentalists last week, Phuket’s conservation authorities were quick to promote the good work they are doing in repairing Koh Racha Yai’s environment with the coral reef rejuvenation project and beach cleanup being held this weekend. “This activity is part of a improvement project that we started last year. It aims to rejuvenate the coral reef……
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Burmese pedestrian killed in Phuket hit-and-run
PHUKET: A Burmese man was killed instantly when he was run over by a speeding pickup truck in a hit-and-run accident in Phuket’s Koh Kaew subdistrict last night. Phuket City Police were informed of the accident at 10:30pm. Arriving at the scene, the median strip in front of the Supercheap mini-mart on Thepkrasattri Road in Bang Khu, they found the…
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Phuket kitesurfer not stung, didn’t drown, say lifeguards
PHUKET: Phuket lifeguards have dismissed the assertion that the American kitesurfer who died shortly after being pulled from the sea at Nai Harn Beach yesterday drowned or was stung by a jellyfish. Nai Harn lifeguard Charintorn Naripen told the Phuket Gazette, “Four of us tried for 20 minutes to revive the casualty before the ambulance arrived. We don’t believe he…
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Yacht club merger marks end of Phuket sailing era
PHUKET: After more than two decades as Phuket’s original yacht club, the Phuket Yacht Club today announced that it will be merging with the Ao Chalong Yacht Club (ACYC). “After careful consideration we, the Phuket Yacht Club committee, have unanimously decided that it is in the best interests of the members to join forces with the Ao Chalong Yacht Club.…
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Grieving mother arrives to collect body of Phuket Games athlete son
PHUKET: The mother of Phuket Games athlete Sutthipong Laphutama, 18, who died in a motorcycle accident in Rawai yesterday, arrived in Phuket to collect her son’s body this morning. Mr Sutthipong died after the motorbike he was operating crashed into a brick wall. Also on the bike was 13-year-old Attapong Noikhamsingha, who is still recovering in hospital. “I can’t believe…
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UK inquest rules Phuket tourist electrocution as “accidental death’
PHUKET: A coroner’s inquest conducted in the UK into the death of 21-year-old British tourist Charles Thomas in Phuket has ruled that his electrocution during heavy rain was an “accidental death”. Mr Thomas was electrocuted in Patong in August last year after placing his hand on the cover of an outdoor power socket fitted into the forecourt paving stones in…
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Phuket Governor issues surf warning after Games athlete rescued
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha has issued a formal warning to all head coaches of teams competing in the Phuket Youth Games to not let their athletes swim in the dangerous surf.“The warning was issued to the head of each team to make sure their athletes do not go into the water during the current treacherous windy conditions or swim…
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Phuket sports: F1 – 6 races, 6 winners
PHUKET: Jackie Stewart famously said, “…qualify on pole and make no mistakes, and Monaco is not a difficult race to win”. Mark Webber qualified on pole, thanks to Michael Schumacher’s five place demotion; he made no mistakes, and he won. This is Webber’s strength – he is infuriatingly calm and does not make mistakes. He got a clean launch while…
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Phuket kickboxer Aldhouse extradition hearing postponed
PHUKET: The UK High Court has agreed to postpone the extradition hearing of murder fugitive Lee Aldhouse so that his lawyers will have more time to prepare their case, the Phuket Gazette has learned. Mr Aldhouse successfully fled Thailand after allegedly stabbing American Deshawn Longfellow to death in August 2010. He was later arrested at Heathrow Airport on an unrelated…
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Phuket baby elephant DNA test results to be announced
PHUKET: The long-awaited DNA test results of three baby elephants seized from elephant camps in Phuket will be revealed next week, the Phuket Gazette was told today. The three elephants were seized in February from the ATV @ Hill Adventure Tour camp on the road to the Big Buddha image in Chalong; the Elephant Camp at the Laguna complex in…
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Chinese punt for Phuket consulate as tourist arrivals skyrocket
PHUKET: The dramatic increase in the number of Chinese tourists visiting Phuket in recent years is causing problems and has prompted Chinese officials to look into establishing a consulate on the island.Xu Mingliang, the People’s Republic of China Consul-General in Songkhla, Southern Thailand, was in Phuket yesterday to hear tour operators’ concerns firsthand and to discuss the issues with Phuket…
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Phuket beach toll rises as kitesurfing American dies
PHUKET: An American kitesurfer died en route to hospital after being pulled from the surf at Phuket’s Nai Harn Beach around noon today.The man, whose name has not been released to the press, had been kitesurfing earlier that morning. He was seen by beach vendors struggling in shallow water after heading back to shore.“We saw him floating in the shallow…
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Golfing Glory: Phuket boys team take top honors
PHUKET: Phuket can claim bragging rights to having the best young golfers in the country after a foursome of island youths took the gold in the boys’ golf team event at Phuket Country Club today. The team of Wacharathorn Jeerapatsin, Sarawuth Boodnongsaeng, Waikun Gatehom and Phantamitr Wananuphat won the gold, with Wacharathorn also taking a bronze in the singles event.At…
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Two injured in Phuket pickup crash
PHUKET: Two men out enjoying Phuket nightlife were injured, one seriously, when their pickup slammed into a power pole before dawn today. Thalang Police at 1:55am were notified of an accident on Thepkrasattri Road inbound near the Karn Keha Public Housing Estate U-turn in Srisoonthorn subdistrict, Thalang. Arriving at the scene with Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers, police found the extended…
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Tragedy strikes Phuket Games as athlete dies in motorbike accident
PHUKET: A young athlete from Bangkok, scheduled to return home after competing in the Phuket Games rowing competition, died in a tragic motorbike accident in Rawai this morning. Chalong Police confirmed the identity of the victim as Sutthipong Laphutama, aged 18. The driver of the motorbike, 13-year-old Atthapong Noikhamsin, was rushed to hospital for treatment of serious injuries. The driver…
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Russian drowns in notorious Phuket rip
PHUKET: A Russian man who ignored red warning flags at Karon Beach is Phuket’s latest drowning victim. Uten Singsom, head lifeguard at Kata-Karon, told the Phuket Gazette that the 33-year-old entered the surf near the Thavorn Palm Beach Resort at about 1pm yesterday. The deceased was later identified as Denis Korobogatov. “He and his two Russian friends came from Patong.…
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Phuket’s Burmese community ‘delighted’ with Suu Kyi visit
PHUKET: Aung San Suu Kyi, the famed Burmese pro-democracy leader, arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday night on her first international trip in 24 years. As reported in The Nation, Thailand was a perfect destination for the woman who spent 15 years under house arrest, as it would give her a chance to meet many people from Myanmar, including some of…
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Go Team: Phuket swipes second gold in “Go’
PHUKET: Phuket girls Bussarin Raktaengam, Worakluck Kritsachaikan, Sudaphat Khongkaew and Pichakon Kankanok yesterday defeated their Nakhon Ratchasima opponents to win gold in the soft tennis event at the 28th Thailand National Youth Games being held in Phuket.The foursome join the boy’s doubles team of Krit Jamkhajonkiet and Panode Kingtkaew as so far the only Phuket competitors to win gold at…
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One sting reported from flood of ‘bluebottles’ at Phuket beaches
PHUKET: Phuket lifeguards at Kata and Karon beaches so far have reported only one person being stung by the bluebottle jellyfish that washed ashore in droves yesterday.More than 100 of the “stingers” washed ashore at Kata and Karon beaches, confirmed Uten Singsom, head lifeguard at Kata-Karon patrol unit on Phuket’s southwest coast.He also received reports that some were found on…
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Evason Phuket opens books to prove “no capacity to pay’
PHUKET: At a closed meeting today, representatives from the Evason Phuket & Bon Island resort revealed financial statements to prove that the resort company does not have the capacity to pay for demands made by workers summarily dismissed last Tuesday. “The Human Resource Manager and the Accounting Manager from the resort are here today to present financial statements from their…
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Phuket yellow shirts bus to Bangkok to join protest
PHUKET: Phuket members of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), also known as the yellow shirts, piled into three buses headed to Bangkok this afternoon to join their PAD counterparts in protest. The PAD will stage a mass rally in the capital tomorrow to protest the reconciliation bill and other bills designed to expunge post-coup court verdicts and offer general…
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Phuket tourism takes a hit over “Trashing Racha’
PHUKET: The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) has been forced to start taking steps to redress the growing concerns voiced in Phuket about the environmental destruction of Koh Racha Yai by negligent tour operators and tourism business owners.The news comes after a leading figure in local environmental conservation blasted greedy tourism operators and the lax enforcement of environmental…
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Help sought for morbidly obese woman in Krabi
PHUKET: The elderly mother of a morbidly obese woman in Krabi province is seeking assistance to get her daughter the medical help and living assistance they need to survive. Wanphen Pimsri, 32, started having serious medical problems as a teen. At age 18, she underwent brain surgery for a hormonal imbalance at Songklanagarind Hospital in Haad Yai, the top government…
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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