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 students to learn water survival skills
PHUKET: In a bid to save Phuket children from drowning, a new project by the Phuket Lifeguard Club, Laguna Phuket and Cherng Talay Municipality aims to teach students in Phuket’s Thalang District how to identify dangerous swimming conditions. The students will even learn how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Held over two school semesters, the project will be open to…
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Phuket students wild carded for ITF tennis tournament
PHUKET: Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club hosted its inaugural tennis tournament, the Thanyapura Tennis Challenge, last weekend.As a result of reaching the Men’s Singles final, two 17-year-old students from Satree Phuket School have earned their places in the Chang ITF Thailand Pro Circuit 2011, which will run from October 29 to November 12, again hosted by TSLC.Thachakorn ‘Kevin’ Tonnon and…
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Phuket cop cleared in South African “cash for freedom’ claim
PHUKET: A Phuket policeman has been cleared of allegations made by a South African man that he had to “buy his freedom” following his arrest for passing counterfeit US dollars. It took Chalong Police duty officer Boonlert Onklang almost a month to prove his innocence after South African tourist Gabriel Sequeira was quoted by the South African media saying he…
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Thailand to lead “education export’ market?
PHUKET: Thailand aims to position itself as a hub for international education and take full advantage of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) set to take effect in 2015, the state-run National News Bureau of Thailand reported on its website last week. Such a bold declaration, echoing similar grand policy initiatives under the government of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, has triggered…
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Phuket may get a trade office
PHUKET: Department of Foreign Trade (DFT) officials have proposed building an office in Phuket as part of a government strategy to improve services for businesses ahead of the 2015 ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). The officials were in Phuket recently to discuss the issue with Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha, who expressed interest in the proposal. Phuket is one of seven provinces…
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Phuket man murdered within inches of his wife
PHUKET: A man driving his wife home from her job at Phuket Airport was gunned down in Sakoo subdistrict last night. Thachatchai Police were notified of the murder on the Sakoo-Nai Yang Road just after midnight. They identified the deceased as 29-year-old Niphon Thaiprasert, a resident of Sakoo Village 3.Mr Niphon died from a single gun shot that entered his…
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FC Phuket 1 – 0 Samutprakan Customs
PHUKET: A first-half goal by Sarach Yooyen was all it took for FC Phuket to secure all three points in a lackluster 1-0 home win against Samutprakan Customs United this evening. The goal by the returning national player came from a deflection of a free kick taken from just outside the top of the penalty area at about 15 minutes…
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Phuket may benefit from regional drive to target European tourists
PHUKET: The Andaman provinces announced last week a plan to launch a joint marketing campaign aimed at luring more Europeans – especially Scandinavians – and persuading them to stay longer. The Andaman Explorer campaign is the brainchild of the tourism associations in the five provinces along the coast of the Andaman Sea: Phuket, Krabi, Phang Nga, Trang and Ranong. Ittirit…
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Caution urged along Phuket airport road
PHUKET: The Highways Department office in Phuket is asking motorists to slow down and exercise caution when passing work on the airport road expansion project in Thalang. Aroon Saneh, head of the regional Highways Department that covers Phuket and parts of Phang Nga, said work on the 120-million-baht project to widen a 4.6-kilometer stretch of the road from two lanes…
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Phuket tuk-tuks join Thai flood-relief effort
PHUKET: The flood-relief effort continues in Phuket, where local tuk-tuk drivers were among those donating boats and other necessities to those affected by the worst flooding in Thailand in decades. Karon vendors and Kata-Karon Tuk-Tuk and Taxi Club members yesterday presented Phuket Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosutthirak with 13 fiberglass boats, life-jackets, clothing and other goods to be sent to flood-affected…
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Burmese crew’s mutiny-murder run ends in Phuket
PHUKET: A mutinous Burmese fishing crewman has confessed to Phuket Police that he hacked to death the ship’s “cruel” Thai captain before attacking the vessel’s technician, who jumped overboard and is presumed dead.The crew of seven Burmese were found yesterday aboard the fishing vessel Wor Suphaporn, stranded off Mai Thon island.“Nud”, 25, confessed to Phuket Police that on October 12…
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FC Phuket take on Customs United tomorrow
PHUKET: Following a two-week break from league play, FC Phuket will host Samut Prakan Customs United (SCU) tomorrow (Sunday) at Surakul Stadium in Phuket Town. Kickoff is scheduled for 6pm. The last time these two teams met was in May, when they played to a 2-2 draw in Samut Prakan. Based on season stats, the odds look to favor Phuket.…
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Phuket Governor transfer rumors “unconfirmed’
PHUKET: The Governor’s Office today said they could neither confirm nor deny rumors that Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha will be transferred out of the province this month. “Our office has yet to be informed of any transfer orders regarding the governor or his deputies,” Manas Nurak, personal secretary to Governor Tri, told the Phuket Gazette. “The central government in Bangkok…
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Dutch tourist slashed by deranged vagrant in Krabi
PHUKET: A Dutch tourist is recovering from neck lacerations sustained in a knife attack by a homeless drifter in front of a McDonald’s outlet in Krabi. Krabi Police raced to the scene at Ao Nang Beach yesterday morning. When they arrived shortly after 11am they found 29-year-old Dutch tourist Reiner Fleaf lying on the sidewalk in a pool of his…
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Phuket woman takes life by hanging
PHUKET: In the second suicide by hanging in Phuket in three days, the body of a local woman was found suspended by the neck from a tree near her home in Thalang this morning. Tah Chat Chai Police were notified of a suicide on Soi Nai Yang 3, opposite Wat Nai Yang in Sakoo, at about dawn today. When they…
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Landslide on Phuket bypass road causes serious damage
PHUKET: Another landslide on the bypass road last night caused over one million baht in damage to stock at the Adisak Trading Company warehouse in Phuket, which was due to be cleared of stock today. Warehouse chief clerk Natthaphum Ongsala, 28, said the landslide breached the warehouse roof and wall, destroying a wide range of stock including buckets of thinner,…
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Phuket Blues Fest moves to Laguna
PHUKET: The Phuket International Blues Rock Festival this year will be held at Laguna Phuket for the first time in the event’s seven-year history. “With 1,300 hotel rooms and a large expat village in the immediate neighborhood, as well as easy access from anywhere in the north of the island, Laguna is the perfect place to stage such an event,”…
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Phuket rains rip another tear in Patong Hill road
PHUKET: Officers from Patong Municipality’s Engineering Division today patched yet another section of the road over Patong Hill, this time on the left-hand eastbound lane for traffic heading toward Phuket Town. The section of freshly damaged road lies about 200 meters west of the Chao Pho Seua Shrine (Tiger Temple) at the top of the hill. “We noticed the damage…
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Patong disaster officers launch flood-relief campaign
PHUKET: The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) office at Patong Municipality today launched a campaign to collect donations of flood relief items from people living in Patong and along Phuket’s west coast. Donations of any essential items, such as dried canned food, rice, clothes and cash, are welcome, an officer at the DDPM Patong office told the Phuket…
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Phuket boy, 9, tops EU contest
PHUKET: A nine-year-old Phuket student was yesterday honored with a personal visit from David Lipman, the Head of the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Thailand. The occasion was to mark young Suthipat Suwanrathpum being selected as one of the 14 winners in a drawing competition held by EuropeAid to highlight gender equality. The drawing by Suthipat, also known…
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Phuket prisoners plunge into fight against floods
PHUKET: Inmates at Phuket Provincial Prison were dispatched to Thalang over the past two days to clear canals of overgrowth and to improve drainage in flood-affected areas of Pa Khlok. Armed with sickles and under close observation by prison wardens, more than 30 inmates with ‘good behavior’ records took part in the operation, which helped ease the suffering of residents…
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Major earthquake strikes off Bali; Australian brain damaged by toxic cocktail on Bali holiday
PHUKET NEWS HOUND – Regional News selected by Phuket Gazette editors for Phuket readers Strong earthquake strikes off Bali, Indonesia Phuket Gazette A strong earthquake struck off the Indonesian island of Bali a few minutes ago, seismologists said, but no tsunami warnings were issued. The 6.8-magnitude earthquake at 11:16am local Bali time (10:16 Phuket time) was centered about 143 kilometers…
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More landslides strike Phuket
PHUKET: Two more small landslides were reported in Phuket’s Rassada subdistrict yesterday, one causing a temporary road closure and the other damaging the wall of a hillside residential estate. The first slide hit on Monday night the Ban Thepkrasattri housing estate just south of Mission Hospital on Thepkrasattri Road inbound, damaging a five-meter section at the base of a retaining…
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Phuket meth users hooked by cosmetic claims
PHUKET: Crystal meth dealers in Phuket are attracting new users by claiming the drug has cosmetic benefits. Doctors say that although the stimulant may cause some changes in a user’s physical appearance, it is far from the desired effect. Concerned about a rise in the use of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine) in Phuket and nearby provinces, police and health officials…
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Rains, landslides cause B100mn in damage to Phuket roads
PHUKET: The ongoing downpours that continue to plague the island have caused 100 million baht in damage to Phuket roads, Governor Tri Augkaradacha revealed today. The news came as Governor Tri today ordered Phuket’s three District Chiefs to take precautionary measures to protect people in their respective areas from floods and landslides. “Because of the floods and landslides that have…
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Phuket to stage “World Musiq Festival’
PHUKET: Phuket will stage a “World Musiq Festival” at Saphan Hin in Phuket Town from December 2 to 5 to honor the 84th birthday of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej on December 5. Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha chaired a meeting at Provincial Hall yesterday to discuss the basic details of the event. Present at the meeting were Phuket Provincial Administration Organization…
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Phuket Live Wire : TrueMove-H: New kid on the wireless block
PHUKET: Last week in Live Wire I talked about finding a good wireless Internet service provider. At the time I didn’t have enough first-hand experience with the new True wireless system, called TrueMove-H, to give you a definitive opinion about the service. Now I have a week of “3G+” under my belt, and the results are good, but not great.…
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Phuket gets ready for the Banana Walk
PHUKET: Patong Beach Hotel Ltd – owners of the Patong Beach Hotel and Banana Disco – today announced the opening of a “new-lifestyle” shopping center in Patong, on Phuket’s west coast. The news follows the developer breaking ground last week for the Banana Walk shopping mall, scheduled to open in May next year. The complex will be located along Thaweewong…
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Illegal dam bursts, mudslide hits Phuket housing estate
PHUKET: Continuing rains across Phuket last night caused a mudslide that forced the evacuation of a residential estate in Rassada. There was considerable property damage, but no injuries were reported. After another night of heavy rain, the mudslide hit the Baan Natkamon estate at about 3am. The first home inundated with flowing mud was that of Opas Chupan, whose unit…
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Phuket Gazette’s Top Sporting Tips: Tennis
PHUKET: This week’s tennis tip about the serve comes courtsey of Travis Bertram who is the Tennis Director for Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club, Phuket. The serve is one of the most important shots in tennis, if not the most important. There are two major checkpoints to look for or be aware of on the serve, the wrist and balance…
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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