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.
-
Sponsored
Infinito helps hotels in Thailand with revenue management
Maximising revenue and profit–isn’t that the ultimate goal for every business in the hospitality industry? If you run a hotel, you might have heard that revenue management is an effective way to boost your top-line revenue. It involves using data...
-
Phuket mass wedding goes off – with a hitch
PHUKET: Organizer have confirmed the mass wedding at Phromthep Cape is going ahead today, even though some government agencies wanted it canceled. Phuket Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosutthirak received a letter of complaint claiming that the private sector shouldn’t be allowed to use public land for commercial purposes. Part of the event includes a flower exhibit that would remain on the…
-
Phuket Live Wire: Yet another PayPal scam
PHUKET: A reader wrote to me, asking if she’s been scammed. Ends up, she’s been taken for a ride, and the scam artist threatened to sue. Here’s how it happened, in her words, with a few minor edits: “Woody, I ran a series of ads in the Phuket Gazette, advertising an item I have for sale. I got an email…
-
Phuket Police keep the heat on drug dealers
PHUKET: Phuket Police are searching for a man-and-wife team of alleged major drug dealers who are on the run after officers unearthed a trove of methamphetamines from the ground outside their home in Mai Khao. Phuket Provincial Police Commander Chonasit Wattanavrangkul provided details of the operation at a press conference on Monday. Also attending were his deputies Pornsak Nuannu and…
-
Trousers to go on at Phuket Village Health Volunteers Fair
PHUKET: For people looking for a cheap night out on Valentine’s Day, the alternative band Kangkeng (Trousers) will take the stage in a free concert at Saphan Hin tonight as part of activities in the Phuket Village Health Volunteers Association Fair. The little-publicized fair, organized by the Phuket Provincial Health Office and Phuket City Municipality, got underway last Tuesday and…
-
New shine for old Phuket shrine
PHUKET: Work is currently underway on a new cultural museum and shrine that will showcase the way of life and traditions of Phuket’s ethnic Hainanese community, which date back to Phuket’s tin mining days. Former Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai was in Phuket last week to preside over a pillar-laying ceremony at Thni Kong Thua Shrine in Wichit. Built over a…
-
Phuket News: Sinkholes threaten Krabi rubber plantation
PHUKET: Sinkholes have hit a rubber plantation in Muang District Krabi, east of Phuket. Officials there are urging the landowner to fill them as soon as possible before they enlarge. The sinkholes were first reported to the Mineral Resources Department Region 4 Office in Surat Thani on February 7. On the afternoon of February 10, office director Tawatchai Thepsuwan and…
-
Tough love for street beggars in Phuket
PHUKET: Government departments are coordinating a crack down on street beggars in Phuket this Valentine’s Day. Tomorrow at 1:30pm, Governor Tri Augkaradacha will implement policies to remove beggars in all three Phuket districts. This will be done in accordance with the Control of Beggars Act BE 2484 (1941), which requires that provincial officers arrest vagrants. “To solve the problem of…
-
Fish truck driver kills five, gets bail
PHUKET: The driver of a truck whose alleged reckless driving killed four young Swedish tourists and their Thai driver in Phang Nga last week has been released on bail, the Phuket Gazette has learned.An officer at Phang Nga Provincial Court told the Gazette last Wednesday that the driver, 27-year-old Muhummadyukee Jehyusoh, requested bail release on February 3.Released three days later…
-
Phuket Sports: Asian kiteboarding gets new media deal
PHUKET: Kiteboard Tour Asia (KTA) and television sailing channel Marine Scene Asia announced recently the signing of a media partnership agreement for the coming season. Marine Scene Asia is a specialist sailing channel that produces programming that covers all aspects of the Asian yachting and boating scene. In particular, it focuses on covering competitive sailing regattas which is an important…
-
Phuket druggists to restrict sale of ‘Meth Blue’
PHUKET: Phuket pharmacists will restrict the sale of products containing ‘methylene blue’ to minors, following reports of youths taking the compound to avoid testing positive for methamphetamine use during drug tests. The announcement came during a special meeting on Saturday led by Kiattisak Parnrungsri, secretary of the Phuket Pharmacists Club; Duangjai Pasarphan, pharmacist with the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office…
-
Phuket Sports: Super six football underway
PHUKET: With a plethora of modern sporting facilities springing up on the island, more and more organized competitions are also appearing to take advantage of the technologies being afforded to the local community. Gone are the days of playing on a hacked out piece of wasteland in the searing afternoon heat because no lighting was available after 6:30pm. A tumble…
-
Phuket Sports: Argies barge into first; Thanyapura top the AFL
PHUKET: After a week’s break, the Fair Play League 2012 resumed back at the British International School (BIS), Phuket recently. Judging by their efforts throughout the day, players had enjoyed the rest and were intent on ridding themselves of excess energy.The U14 division matches were first to the field with one game on each of BIS’s manicured pitches. Thailand and…
-
Phuket “Meth blue’ users at risk
PHUKET: Health officials in Phuket have issued a warning to students not to take the chemical “Methylene blue” in an attempt to hide methamphetamine use from authorities in drug testing. Muang district chief Supachai Pochanakul recently described the trend of growing drug abuse by schoolchildren in Muang district as “very worrying”. The statement followed a recent round-up of 19 truant…
-
Tough love: Valentine’s crackdown underway on Phuket youth
PHUKET: The Phuket authorities are cracking down hard on the island’s teenagers in advance of Valentine’s Day, with 16 young people recently detained and tested for drug use. The crackdown comes amid the traditional moral panic over the behavior of Thai youth that accompanies the romantic holiday in the country each year. Of the 16 boys and girls who were…
-
BREAKING NEWS: Phuket Beach body thought to be Mark Robson’s
PHUKET: A body found strangled in Phuket late last month is almost certainly that of missing English teacher Mark Robson, who was reported missing by his parents recently. The break in the case came yesterday when Phuket Tourist Police Foreign Volunteers Group Leader Frank Tomenson provided the media an updated photo of Mark sent to him by Keith Robson, Mark’s…
-
Phuket’s baby elephants under investigation
PHUKET: Three elephant camps in Phuket are being investigated after concerns were raised about the origins of the baby elephants in their possession. Officers of Central Investigation Bureau of the Royal Thai Police in Bangkok investigated Phuthai Souvenir Market in Chalong, ATV Elephant Camp near the Big Buddha image in Karon and Sheraton Camp in Cheng Talay to determine if…
-
Dr Smith warns of tsunami risk in Phuket, Andaman region
PHUKET: The man whose warnings of a possible tsunami disaster along Thailand’s Andaman coast went unheeded years before the 2004 calamity struck was in Phuket recently, urging a national assembly of school administrators to be prepared for more possible disasters in 2012. Dr Smith Dharmasaroja, former Director of the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC), was guest speaker for a gathering…
-
Phuket Civil Defense Volunteer dead at the wheel
PHUKET: A Phuket City Civil Defense Volunteer died at the wheel of his car yesterday, possibly even before he crashed the car into a metalworks shop in Chalong at 3am. Police at the scene suspect the driver, Apinun “Nun” Chaibandit, 48, suffered a heart attack just before the crash. The shop workers escaped harm by jumping out of the way…
-
‘Ae Inside’ murder suspect prepared to surrender: Phuket Police
PHUKET: Police are in telephone negotiations with murder suspect Atsadakorn “Pod” Seedokbuab, a Phuket businessman they believe was the mastermind behind the shocking assassination of Phuket newsman Wisut “Ae Inside” Tangwitthayaporn early last month. Mr Atsadakorn, owner of KPP Cable TV and a vice president of the Phuket Chamber of Commerce, is demanding immediate bail release in return for his…
-
Weekend weather forecast for Phuket
PHUKET: The weekend weather forecast for Phuket calls for good beach weather, with partly-cloudy skies, calm seas and a only a small chance of showers. According to Thai Meteorological Department, there is a chance of widely scattered thundershowers over 10% of the island for today, rising to 20% coverage tomorrow and 30% on Sunday. Seas should be calm, with easterly…
-
Former monk arrested for drugs in Phuket
PHUKET: A former monk was one of six suspects arrested in drug raids in Kathu, Phuket earlier this week. Following a tip-off that a man living in a hut had been selling drugs to local youths, a Thung Thong Police drug suppression unit on Sunday raided the dwelling, located in a rubber plantation near Bang Wad Reservoir in Kathu. They…
-
English teacher reported missing in Phuket
PHUKET: The mother Mark Robson, a 27-year-old with British and South African nationality, is seeking help to find her son who went missing in Phuket last month. Mr Robson arrived in Thailand from Durban on December 5. After short stays in Bangkok, Koh Phangan and Koh Samui in mid-December, he stayed in Phuket. He was in regular email contact with…
-
Rooney votes Redknapp
PHUKET: “Gutted Capello has quit. Good guy and top coach. Got to be English to replace him. Harry Redknapp for me.” Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney expressed his opinion on Twitter yesterday about the resignation of Fabio Capello as England’s football coach and said that Spurs boss Redknapp is his choice to take over the role. Capello quit on Thursday…
-
Surprise tuna catch off Phuket, Krabi
PHUKET: Fisherman have been catching unusually large longtail tuna in the waters south of Phuket recently, experts say. One of the fish, so large it was originally thought to be a “little tunny” or “false albacore”, was brought for examination to the Andaman Sea Fisheries Management Center Krabi on Tuesday. The specimen, weighing in at 5kg, is a good sign…
-
Crime and Phuket Tourism: Getting it into context
PHUKET: In an editorial in August last year, the Phuket Gazette asked readers to consider whether or not our island’s tourism industry would die from all the deaths. The deaths referred not only to violent crime but also to more ‘natural’ events such as drowning and road fatalities. But crime was of course the focus amid a wave of murders…
-
Phuket update: Volunteers continue sea search for missing Aussie
PHUKET: Friends of an Australian woman who fell overboard from a yacht sailing to Phuket late last week are not giving up hope that she may still be alive and are calling on volunteers to continue the search off the coast of Trang. Australian national Carmel Brooks is known to have fallen overboard from the sailboat Moondancer last Thursday night…
-
Contador is beaten by meat
PHUKET: “The simple fact is that anyone who has a prohibited substance in their system is a cheat.” John Fahey, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said that champion Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador should now be considered a “cheat” after being found guilty of doping, having tested positive for clenbuterol during the 2010 Tour de France. The Spaniard was handed…
-
Phuket tour buses: Two hurt in yet another crash
PHUKET: Another Phuket tour bus, this time carrying a group of Chinese tourists, crashed at the base of Patong Hill last night, injuring two people and causing extensive property damage. The single deck bus was carrying about 18 tourists when its braking system failed coming down Phra Barami Road, near Suwankiriwong Temple, at about 7pm. The bus continued straight along…
-
Phuket Update: Sea search called off for missing Australian
PHUKET: A sea search for an Australian woman reported to have fallen overboard from a yacht sailing to Phuket late last week was called off today. News that a search was underway for Carmel Brookes, an Australian-born resident of Langkawi Island in Malaysia, was first reported to the Phuket Gazette by her close friend Michelle Black yesterday. Ms Black was…
-
Bob Brindley passes away in Phuket
PHUKET: Friends and family of Bob Brindley are mourning his passing in Phuket on Sunday. Grenville Fordham, commodore of the Ao Chalong Yacht Club (ACYC), informed members of the club of Mr Brindley’s passing with the following announcement: “It is with great regret that I have to inform you that one of ACYC’s staunchest supporters and valued members, Bob Brindley,…
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.
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.