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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Sponsored A healthy tomorrow starts today: Celebrate the great American Smokeout day
The Great American Smokeout, held this year on November 17, is a nationwide event that encourages smokers to take their first steps towards a smoke-free life. If you’re an expat in Thailand, this day could be a timely reminder to...
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No short-term solution for Phuket Airport Immigration bottleneck
PHUKET: Tourists waiting up to an hour and a half to clear immigration during peak periods at Phuket Airport are unlikely to receive any reprieve until a separate international terminal is completed. Pol Maj Wannee Songsanguan of Phuket Airport Immigration told the Gazette that her office was well aware of the situation, but could do nothing more to speed up…
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Phuket’s annual ‘Best of Phuket’ Awards to be unveiled tomorrow
PHUKET: The winners of the Phuket Gazette‘s ‘Best of Phuket’ awards for 2011 are announced in a special four-page supplement tucked into the newspaper’s December 31 issue, due out on the streets at noon tomorrow. The awards comprise 33 winners in five major categories: Person of the Year (4); Business (4); Service (6); Environment (2); and Restaurants (17). Our winners…
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Brazilian found dead in Phuket guesthouse
PHUKET: A Brazilian tourist was found dead in his Phuket hotel room on Tuesday after he and a male friend brought two Patong bar hostesses back to their room. The body of the deceased, 30-year-old Daniel Rocha Jordan Brasileiro, is under examination at Patong Hospital. A member of the staff at the guest house where the pair were staying said…
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FC Phuket fans attacked by blog site
PHUKET: “The club, with its finances and its future as up in the air as a corner kick, also has to pay a 20,000 baht fine.” A local blog uses this woefully inappropriate simile in commenting on FC Phuket’s uncertain future and the aggressive actions of a few supporters at the club’s last home game. Perhaps the blogger is unfamiliar…
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FC Phuket’s ‘Ko Lek’ to step down
PHUKET: FC Phuket manager Narubas “Ko Lek” Aryupong revealed today that he will withdraw from running the team next season due to the current financial crisis.“A lot of money is needed to run a football team in Division 1. Yearly expenses reach over 40 million baht and I cannot afford that anymore. I will run a team in Division 2…
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Club Med Phuket sets up swim zone at Kata Beach
PHUKET: A second swim area has been cordoned off at Kata Beach in Phuket, but lifeguards continue to worry about the safety of swimmers and snorkelers who venture outside the float ropes and into the path of speedboats and jet-skis. Safety issues at the popular west coast beach were highlighted earlier this month when Russian tourist Nikolai Nefedov, was hit…
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Phuket aglow with tsunami memorial ceremony
PHUKET: A dignified silence settled over Patong Beach yesterday evening as hundreds gathered to light candles in remembrance of the people who were killed or went missing in the 2004 tsunami that devastated Thailand’s west coast. The Light Up Phuket memorial service was attended by Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha, Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) President Paiboon Upatising and Dutch Honorary…
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Phuket Live Wire: Is Phuket cheaper?
PHUKET: Hardly a day passes when somebody doesn’t ask me, “Woody, should I buy a laptop (phone, desktop computer, iPad, printer, camera, TV) here in Phuket, or is it cheaper in the US (or Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Seoul, Europe)?” Once upon a time, it was relatively easy to answer that question. Times have changed. Three or four years…
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Girls saved in Phuket, safely back in France
PHUKET: The two French girls who spent eight months on the streets of Phuket are now back in France, where they are undergoing evaluation by social workers. The girls, 12-year-old Manel and her sister Chaima, 11, have been reunited with their paternal grandmother and are now in the care of French social services. Meanwhile, the Gazette has been informed of…
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Finance Ministry to press for Phuket ICEC
PHUKET: Finance Minister Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala has pledged to accelerate long-delayed property projects run by the Treasury Department, including the Phuket International Convention and Exhibition Center (Phuket ICEC). The Phuket ICEC, slated to be built on 1.5 rai of Treasury Department land in Mai Khao, has 2.6 billion baht in funding approval from the department. However the project is on hold…
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Phuket PDL Darts: Hemingways A down Starfish, 10-3
PHUKET: In Week 10 of the 2011-2012 Patong Darts League, Shakers hosted the hottest dart team in Phuket at the moment: Hemingways A. Shakers titan and daytime schoolteacher Ryan played Big Ronnie in the first match up to get the evening going. With high scoring from both sides, the epic ended in a 1-1 draw. Veteran of the Swedish professional…
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Phuket tsunami memorial service honored by few
PHUKET: A somber air hung over the tsunami memorial service at the Tsunami Memorial Wall in Mai Khao this morning as about 50 people turned up to remember those lost to the killer waves that struck Phuket in 2004. Thai official figures state that the tsunami killed 5,398 people and more than 3,700 disappeared in the waves that day. Hundreds…
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Phuket “anti-Santa’ behind bars
PHUKET: A Russian man was arrested by Kamala Police yesterday on suspicion of robbing several homes during the festive holidays. The 35-year-old, Pavel Zhuravlev, was arrested at 3am at a house where he was staying on Soi Massayid Naka in Kamala. He was found in possession of 800 milligrams of ya ice (methamphetamine) and drug-taking paraphernalia, as well as many…
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Top Muay Thai kickboxer takes the stage
PHUKET: Renowned Muay Thai kickboxer Buakaw Por Pramuk, the holder of three national-title belts, steps into the ring at the Patong Boxing Stadium, Phuket, tonight (December 26). Buakaw, who won his third national title on December 18, is not scheduled to fight at the stadium competitively. However he will spar with a partner to demonstrate his skills and techniques to…
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Phuket’s turtle nesting sites empty of eggs this year
PHUKET: Phuket’s marine wildlife experts have expressed concern that turtles are not laying eggs on many of the Andaman beaches historically used by the turtle population. “The nesting season for sea turtles along the Andaman coast is usually from November to March. Their preferred nesting sites are Mai Khao Beach in Phuket, Tai Muang Beach in Phang Nga and some…
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Villagers in southern provinces panicked by high waves; Phuket not affected
PHUKET: Christmas brought panic to many villagers in southern Thailand yesterday when high waves hit several coastal provinces, just one day short of today’s seventh anniversary of the December 26 tsunami, which killed thousands and shocked the whole country. But there were no reports of panic in Phuket yesterday, although high winds prevailed throughout much of it, accelerating toward dusk.…
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Phuket FC ready for Air Force Utd tonight
PHUKET: Phuket FC are hoping for a large fan turnout this evening when they kick off against Air Force Utd at Surakul Stadium at 6pm. Phuket FC will go into the match coming off a disappointing home loss to Suphanburi FC on Wednesday, while Air Force Utd greatly improved their chance of avoiding relegation with a 1-0 home win against…
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Phuket Pit Viper confirmed
PHUKET: In an unexpected Christmas Day development, Thai and Belgian researchers have confirmed the discovery in Phuket of a previously unknown species of Pope’s pit viper, and will unveil the serpent next week at the Korat Zoo. Commonly known as the ‘Phuket pit viper’, the new species Trimeresurus (Popeia) phuketensis was discovered in the Khao Phra Thaew Wildlife Sanctuary on…
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Have a very Phuket Christmas!
PHUKET: With scattered thundershowers forecast across Phuket today, the tens of thousands of people who have come to spend Christmas here will be doing their best to enjoy our beaches. Without a doubt, Santa, like so many others, will be making a stop on Phuket during his annual circumnavigation, so make sure you’re not too naughty this weekend. Santa will…
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Siam Niramit opens in Phuket
PHUKET: After six years in the making, the Siam Niramit Phuket theater is now staging its “Journey to the Enchanted Kingdom of Siam” art and culture show before packed houses of people who are taking advantage a limited-time, 399-baht-per-ticket promotional offer. Last night, members of the Phuket media were treated to a complimentary viewing of the show, related attractions and…
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Girl, 16, struck dead by pickup truck on main Phuket road
PHUKET: A 16-year-old Burmese girl was struck dead by a pickup truck while crossing Thepkrasattri Road, the main road to Phuket Airport, in Thalang last night. The girl, named only as “Dao”, was crossing the busy road with her father in front of Baan Porn Furniture store just before 10pm when the pair were hit by a black Toyota Vigo…
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Phuket plays host to international DMAT rally
PHUKET: Tourists at Nai Yang Beach, on Phuket’s northwest coast, received a surprise this morning when seven Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMATs) arrived and began life-saving rescue drills. The exercises were part of the first-ever International Medical Rally in Asia, which brought together for a one-day event four DMATs from Thailand and three DMAT crews from Japan, Korea and Sri…
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Police rule “suicide’ on Phuket yacht death
PHUKET: Police are treating as suicide the death of a South African man whose body was discovered on a yacht moored off Phuket this morning. Chalong Police were notified of the discovery at about 8:30am, Capt Chianchai Duangsuwan told the Phuket Gazette. Police arrived on board the boat, moored about 800 meters from Chalong Pier, to find the body lying…
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Phuket police take stand against sex slavery
PHUKET: Police have warned nightclub, karaoke and massage parlor operators in Phuket’s party town of Patong that human trafficking and luring young women into forced prostitution will not be tolerated. The warning came at a meeting in Patong on Wednesday, following the Department of Special Investigations’ (DSI’s) rescue of 41 young women from a sex trafficking ring in a raid…
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Phuket Sports: Westwood wins at Amata Spring
PHUKET: Lee Westwood claimed the inaugural Thailand Golf Championship and a US$158,000 prize purse last Sunday at the Amata Spring Country Club in Chonburi. The 38-year-old from England fired a three-under-par 69 in the final round to defeat South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel by seven shots following a four-shot overnight lead. Westwood’s 22-under-par 266 aggregate total, fourth victory of 2011 and…
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Fair Play to Brazilian Soccer Schools
PHUKET: Organized by Brazilian Soccer Schools (BSS) Phuket, The Fair Play League for boys and girls will resume on January 14, 2012 at the British International School (BIS). Tawan Sea Adventures and The Yorkshire Inn have stepped in as title sponsors which has enabled the registration fee to be set at 500 baht per player for the full eight week…
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Laguna take top spot after demolition of the Phuket Leopards
PHUKET: Last year’s Island Furniture T20 champions Laguna Phuket faced the dynamic youth team of the Leopards in the season’s sixth match and the final league encounter of 2011 at the Alan Cooke Ground (ACG) on Sunday. A convincing victory was needed by Laguna if they were to move to top of the table going into the new year. The…
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Phuket official stabbed by accident
PHUKET: A municipal official who tried to break up a lovers’ quarrel on Patong Beach yesterday evening is being treated in a Phuket hospital for a stab wound after his stomach was accidentally sliced open by an enraged young woman. Patong Municipality officer Prakij “Oh” Phenjun was on Patong Beach at about 7:30pm yesterday when he heard a young man…
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Bagged testicle puts Scott Dann out of action
PHUKET: “Our physio [Dave Fevre] cannot believe it. He has two players [Dann and Givet] out with problems he has never come across before in all his years of experience.”Blackburn Rovers manager Steve Kean explains that striker Scott Dann has sustained a ruptured testicle while putting the ball in the back of the net during the Rovers’ painful 2-1 defeat…
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MMA fighter Junie Browning surrenders to Phuket Police
PHUKET: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Junie Browning turned himself over the Chalong Police yesterday afternoon. Mr Browning walked into Chalong Police Station at about 2pm with his lawyer and filed a counter-complaint against Australian Simon Menzies. Mr Menzies had already filed a complaint against Mr Browning after the pair became involved in a brawl in a bar in Karon.…
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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