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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Sponsored Is it wise to go to Bangkok during Songkran?
Songkran, Thailand’s New Year festival held from April 13 to 15, is one of the most exciting times to visit Bangkok. The city is filled with water fights, music, and parades in areas like Khao San Road and Silom, while...
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Prompong suspects “foreigners’ in Phuket illegal land grab
PHUKET: Government Spokesman Prompong Nopparit today announced that he believes foreigners were involved in the illegal acquisition of protected forest land on the headland south of Patong Beach, on Phuket’s west coast. Leading an entourage of about 20 people, Mr Prompong this morning inspected the 20-rai plot of land in question, located near Freedom Beach. He also led the questioning…
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Phuket Governor expects light-rail investor named by August
PHUKET: Assuring the public that a light-rail project for the island will go ahead, Phuket Governor Tri Augkardacha said he expects the engineering firm to build the project to be named by the government by August. “We have an official committee to oversee the light-rail project in Phuket. The committee comprises local officials and businessmen, as well as representatives from…
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Phuket Island Union takes Evason dispute to Governor
PHUKET: Phuket Island Union members filed a petition with the Phuket Governor’s Office yesterday, requesting that Governor Tri Augkaradacha endorse their plea for a better severance package. The petition was the latest move by the union following an impromptu strike and subsequent sacking of more than 400 staff at the Evason Phuket & Bon Island resort on Tuesday. Union vice…
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Man dies after Thalang car crash
PHUKET: A Phuket Town man died after his pickup slammed into a power pole in Thalang district last night. Thalang Police were informed of the accident, opposite Srisoonthorn Municipality offices on Thepkrasattri Road northbound, at 10:30pm. Rushing to the scene with Phuket Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers, they found a badly-damaged Ford pickup off the road a few meters down an…
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Phuket sports: F1 – Gladiators, Glamour and Glitz at Monaco
PHUKET: The Monaco GP is one of the most prestigious races in the world, alongside the Indianapolis 500 and Le Mans 24 Hours. These three races form a Triple Crown which only Graham Hill has won. In an irony devised by some god of madness, the Monaco GP and the Indy are to run on the same day this year!…
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Phuket Live Wire: Don’t be evil, AIS
PHUKET: A friend of mine – one of the Sunday morning computer clinic crowd – sends an interesting tale about his pre-paid AIS account: “I recently went through 300 baht of phone service in 10 days. 300 baht usually takes me over a month. Couldn’t figure out why. I routinely receive a ‘News Plus’ SMS message, in Thai, from AIS.…
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Burmese maid cleans house, gets nabbed by Phuket police
PHUKET: A Burmese maid in Phuket who stole about two million baht in cash, diamonds and jewelry from an ex-employer’s house on Monday was captured by the Phuket Provincial Police early this week. The maid, 32-year-old Sandar Win Wan Dee, was tracked down to room number “666” of an unnamed guest house on Soi Patong Whiskey on Monday afternoon. She…
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Phuket Town ultimate hotel guest Hans Maeter recovering well
PHUKET: Hans Maeter, the 88-year-old German expat who was moved from Phuket’s famed On On Hotel to Patong Hospital on May 8, is reportedly doing well. Mr Maeter had been a permanent resident at the On On Hotel in Phuket Town for the past 20 years. The hotel is famed as the Phuket hotel featured in the Leonardo DiCaprio film…
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Phuket expat restaurateur dies in motorbike crash
PHUKET: Long-term Phuket expat Pascal Gradolato, 54, owner of La Chaumiere restaurant on Saiyuan Road in Rawai, has died following a fatal head injury sustained in a motorcycle accident.An officer at the Phuket Tourist Rescue Center who responded to the emergency call told the Phuket Gazette he was notified of the accident at 5:30am yesterday.Mr Gradolato suffered a serious head…
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Phuket youth snatch gang targeted holiday tourists
PHUKET: Police have arrested a juvenile gang of bag-snatchers responsible for at least 17 thefts targeting tourists on holiday in Phuket.Chaiprasit ‘Jew’ Boonyok, 20, was identified as the leader of the seven-strong gang by Phuket Provincial Police Deputy Commander Pirayut Karajadi at a press conference held at Patong Police Station on Tuesday.The gang members arrested comprised two 15-year-olds, two 16-year-olds,…
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Phuket stages earthquake drill to calm fears
PHUKET: Emergency personnel from across Phuket joined local officials in Thalang District yesterday to conduct an earthquake rescue exercise. The drill was based on possible damages from a hypothetical 5.0 magnitude earthquake centered in the area of Srisoonthorn subdistrict, which sustained the greatest damage on April 16, when a 4.3 Richter quake shook Phuket. “Thalang is in an earthquake-risk zone,…
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Phuket gets a new “Yellow Bus’
PHUKET: A new luxury bus service to Hua Hin, called the “Yellow Bus”, has been launched, departing Phuket daily at 7am.The Roong Reuang Coach (Mukdahan) Company, also known as the “Yellow Bus”, has been in operation since 2005 and has maintained four routes stretching the length and breadth of Thailand.“We launched the first bus on the Phuket to Hua Hin…
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Home invasion: Phuket florist stabbed, robbed
PHUKET: A local flower shop owner early yesterday morning survived a brutal home invasion by three men who left him wounded after stealing his safe containing all his valuables. The victim, Sommart Chokekuea, reported the incident to police after receiving medical treatment at Mission Hospital in Rassada. A police check of the victim’s two-storey home in Chalong showed evidence that…
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Phuket live wire: Beware the SCB phishermen
PHUKET: I have been saving up accounts of online fraud directed at people in Phuket, and my inbox is groaning under the weight! Here’s my latest crop of scams you should know about. Hopefully, if you realize other people are getting hit, there’s less of a chance that you’ll lose your shirt to one of these charlatans. The most convincing…
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Phuket Live Wire: How to handle the next disaster
PHUKET: The “tsunami” scare has come and gone, and I’m still livid. Many news organizations spread enormous layers of misinformation and scared the living daylights out of people worldwide, without the slightest regard for the facts. All they cared about was selling more newspapers or gathering more clicks. At 5:23pm on April 11 – an hour before the “tsunami” was…
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Drinking water system heads to northern Phuket
PHUKET: The Phuket Waterworks Authority has revealed a plan to provide public water fountains throughout Mai Khao as a pilot project in rolling out potable water supply to the northern parts of the island. Pichai Wetchrungsri, Deputy Director of the Phuket Waterworks Authority, announced the news earlier this month at a meeting at Provincial Hall, where he explained that the…
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Phuket strike action sees 400 workers laid off
PHUKET: More than 400 employees of the formerly named Evason Phuket & Bon Island resort today staged a protest in front of the hotel in Rawai after learning that they had all been sacked – with immediate effect.Warin Sungkong, who presented himself as vice president of the Phuket Island Union, told the Gazette that the employees first noticed that the…
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Lifeguards back on Phuket beaches on Monday
PHUKET: Phuket’s lifeguards will be back on the beaches on Monday, an officer at the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) confirmed to the Phuket Gazette this afternoon. Kanyarat Senrung, an officer at the Phuket OrBorJor Tourism Department, today said the contract between the OrBorJor and the Phuket Lifeguard Club was signed this morning. “The only delay now is that we…
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Somjai opens canvassing for Phuket City Mayor election
PHUKET: Somjai Suwansupana yesterday was the first to register her candidacy in the upcoming Phuket City Municipal election on June 16, marking her attempt for re-election to her third consecutive term as Phuket City Mayor.Given the favorable voting ballot number 1, Ms Somjai led her Khon Noom “Young Turks” party in registering their candidacies for the 24 council seats up…
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Phuket rescue team calls for donations to save slashed dog
PHUKET: A team of Phuket emergency response officers are calling for donations to help a stray dog that has been inflicted with an eight-inch wound to its stomach. Officers at the Patong Municipality Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) first noticed the dog, now named “Nin”, meaning black, when he wandered into the area near their offices last Thursday.…
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Sea Gypsy Cultural Center to open in Phuket this year
PHUKET: The long-anticipated Sea Gypsy Cultural Center, or Urak Lawoi Culture Center, is now scheduled to open toward the end of this year.The inauguration of the facility is expected to happen about six months after it is officially transferred from the Phuket Office of Public Works to Rassada Municipality at the end of this month.At a cost of 5.4 million…
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Phuket sports: Formula 1 – 5 races 5 winners
PHUKET: At Catalunya no driver has ever won starting lower than third on the grid, which makes it a boring race, right?Right and wrong.It was McLaren’s race to lose again. And they did – again! Lewis Hamilton keeps winning on the track, and his pit crew keeps losing it for him. This is from a team renowned for its meticulous…
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French tourist drowns off Freedom Beach, Phuket
PHUKET: The body of Stephane Dacosta, a 33-year-old French national, thought to have drowned yesterday, was recovered from the waters off Freedom Beach this morning.Mr Dacosta was reported missing at about 5pm yesterday by friends who had attempted, with the help of local fishermen, to save him after noticing the French man struggling to swim in the current.“We checked the…
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Dolphin blood-test results reveal serious infection
PHUKET: Blood tests have revealed that the stranded striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) rescued in Phuket waters Sunday morning has a serious infection and only a 10 to 30 per cent chance of survival. The young female dolphin was recovered from the sea after being sighted by staff from Karon Beach Resort, and was transferred to Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC),…
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Archeological site near Phuket used as eco-tourism collateral
PHUKET: Local Krabi villagers, across the bay from Phuket, have ravaged an archaeological site in a mangrove forest in hopes of making it an eco-tourism attraction.A variety of colorful beads were uncovered by local fishermen in Tambol Klong Thom Thai in Krabi about a month ago, said Teerapong Sithisak a 43-year-old resident of the area.After hearing the fishermen’s stories about…
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Phuket live wire: Mac attack
PHUKET: It was inevitable that somebody would create a Trojan – a botnet, no less – for the Mac OS X. But I don’t think anybody expected the first major Trojan would hit as hard, or so many people, as the one we’re witnessing right now. According to numerous sources, more than 600,000 Macs have been infected – and most…
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Phuket live wire: Yet more scams – be careful out there!
PHUKET: Last February I wrote about a reader who placed an ad in the Gazette, and was strung along by a scammer. The scammer had a long, contrived story that ended with a demand that the person who placed the ad actually send money to the scammer, with threats from PayPal, Western Union and the FBI. About a month ago,…
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Launch of new Phuket incinerator misfires
PHUKET: The long-awaited second incinerator at the Phuket City Municipality facility in Saphan Hin failed to fire correctly during a trial burn this month, dousing the surrounding neighborhood in a foul stench.The disconcerting odor sparked a stream of complaints from local residents and from families visiting the popular recreational park nearby.“We had to move to solve the problem immediately,” said…
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FC Phuket sustain first half dogfight with Airforce, new president appointment official
PHUKET: FC Phuket came from behind in a closely contested match on Saturday night to draw with Airforce United 3-3 at Surakul Stadium in Phuket Town. All six goals of the season’s 10th fixture were scored in the first 31 minutes of play, with both sides failing to break the deadlock throughout the rest of the match. Opening the score…
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Phuket pileup kills woman, 21
PHUKET: A rear-end collision spun a car out of control on Thepkrasattri Road in Koh Kaew yesterday morning, causing the car to slam into a motorbike, killing the rider.Thalang Police duty officer Patiwat Yodkwan was notified of the accident at 9:15am.At the scene, about 300 meters south of the Tah Reua Temple, Capt Patiwat, fellow police officers and Kusoldharm Foundation…
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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