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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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.…
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Phuket job fair offers little respite for hotel labor shortage
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Employment Office (PPEO) job fair in Phuket Town today attracted few job-seekers, despite repeated calls from Phuket’s tourism industry seeking to hire more qualified staff. Representatives from more than 59 businesses turned up at the Phuket Software Industry Promotion Agency building at Saphan Hin to offer in total more than 1,500 jobs. Most of the positions…
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Young dad dies in high-speed Phuket crash
PHUKET: A young father died instantly in a high-speed single car crash yesterday after his car spun out of control while he was rushing to pick up his child from school in Phuket Town. Tung Tong Police Duty Officer Watthanathon Bamrungthin told the Phuket Gazette that 28-year-old Boonrit Aphithammawong was on his way from Patong, where he worked as a…
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Phuket blitz on booze in New Year gift baskets
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO) yesterday launched a series of raids on major retailers selling New Year gift baskets to ensure that they do not contain alcoholic beverages. “I have informed all major retailers that New Year gift baskets may not contain alcohol,” said PPHO chief Dr Sak Tanchaikul. “The PPHO have right to report to the…
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FC Phuket unable to fend off Elephant Cavalry charge
PHUKET: FC PHUKET were defeated 1-0 by Suphanburi FC last night in front of a somewhat rowdy home crowd at Surakul Stadium in Phuket Town. The game’s only goal came in the 30th minute by the visitor’s Cameroonian import, Ronald Kufoin Djam, who initially flicked the ball to the back post from a corner kick by Santi Chaiyaphauk. The ball…
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Second Phuket incinerator ‘onstream by March’
PHUKET: The second trash incinerator currently under construction at the Saphan Hin facility is expected to be operational by March. Chief Prachum Suriya, Phuket City Municipality, Environmental Division, detailed the progress made so far in the construction of the incinerator, which started in 2009 and is now about 80 per cent complete. The new incinerator is expected to have the…
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FC Phuket call for massive support tonight against Suphanburi FC
PHUKET: FC Phuket players and coaching staff are appealing for a flood of fan support for tonight’s league match against Suphanburi FC, also known as the “Elephant-back Warriors”. Assistant Coach Apichart “Mo” Mosika asked the Phuket Gazette to encourage FC Phuket fans to be at Surakul Stadium tonight for the team’s 31st game of the 2011 Division One schedule. “It…
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Machine gun seized in Phuket meth raid
PHUKET: Police conducting drug raids on three houses in Mai Khao, at the northern tip of Phuket, today seized a slew of guns, including a .45 Thompson submachine gun. Armed with search warrants, officers from Tah Chat Chai Police Station first searched the home of 38-year-old Chaicharn Kao-ian, where they found 60 ya bah (methamphetamine) pills hidden in his washing…
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Phuket Gov to give ‘key to City’ away for Red Cross Fair
PHUKET: This year’s Red Cross Fair will be held from December 29 to January 8, 2012 at Saphan Hin central stage in Phuket Town. The opening ceremony, starting at 6pm on December 29, will feature a fireworks show, and performances by nationally-renowned acts will be staged every night. As in years past, the most anticipated event will be the charity…
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Live Wire – Fourth 3G supplier to aid Phuket
PHUKET: May I present some good news, some not-so-good news, and some news that keeps crawling out of the mailbag, like a gift from Santa that can’t be returned. We’ve waited years for 3G wireless internet service in Thailand. Now, suddenly, over the course of the past six months, we’ve got 3G coming out of our ears, in a wide…
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Swede found dead on superyacht in Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket Police do not suspect foul play in the death of a Swedish woman whose body was discovered yesterday in the cabin of a superyacht where she worked as a crew member. Devina Marie Lindgren, 21, was found dead aboard a private yacht moored off Patong Beach yesterday. The 90-meter yacht Lauren L, taking part in the Asia Region…
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Phuket Town hotel raises stink over fish factory smell
PHUKET: The Silver Hotel in Phuket Town has complained to the province that odor from a nearby seafood processing plant is costing them up to 400,000 baht monthly in lost revenue. Phuket Vice Governor Somkiat Sangkaosuttirak met with Silver Hotel Managing Director Monluck Tantipornsawat on Thursday to discuss the issue. The formal complaint followed an inspection of the nearby Phuket…
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Phuket hotel reimburses robbed Aussie tourists
PHUKET: The management of a Phuket hotel agreed to pay some 150,000 baht in compensation to an Australian couple who claimed their room safe was robbed of 255,000 baht. Australian tourist Jim Nagi, 44, said he first noticed cash missing from the safe in his hotel room at the Andaman Beach Suites Hotel in Patong on December 8. “At first,…
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“Washi’ goes wishy-washy: no effect in Phuket
PHUKET: Tropical storm “Washi”, which killed nearly 1,000 people in the Philippines, will have virtually no effect on the weather here in Phuket, the Phuket Gazette has been told. However, residents of Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Phatthalung, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, Trang and Satun provinces could experience unseasonable rainfall over the next two days. A forecaster at the Southern Meteorological Center…
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Don’t judge Thorpe… yet.
PHUKET: “It’s not a concern now. Maybe later, but now it’s too premature. I’m in training at the moment. I don’t look at where I come in the race.” Ian Thorpe, former Olympic and world swimming champion, said it was much too early to judge his recent comeback results in Italy. Thorpe finished 16th overall in the 100m freestyle and…
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Dispute between Phuket expats may lead to charges of extortion
PHUKET: Police yesterday arrested a restaurant owner in Phuket’s busy tourist town of Patong, on Phuket’s west coast, after he visited another Patong restaurant owner and threatened him if he didn’t “repay” 7 million baht. Lt Col Tammasan Boonsong told the Phuket Gazette today that he arrived at Orient Restaurant at 7pm last night with a squad of police officers…
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MMA bar brawler Junie Browning: “not in Phuket’
PHUKET: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Junie Browning, who is wanted by Phuket Police for his role in two serious brawls, has contacted the Phuket Gazette with his detailed version of events. At the time of posting, the Gazette was seeking comments from people and institutions mentioned in Mr Browning’s version of events. In his email below, Mr Browning did…
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Yvon Van Eyersen cremated in Phuket
PHUKET: A small group of friends and Red Cross officials gathered at Wat Saen Suk on Wednesday for the somber cremation ceremony of long-time Phuket resident Yvon Van Eyersen of Belgium. Mr Van Eyersen passed away early Tuesday morning, immediately after staff at Vachira Phuket Hospital turned off his life support apparatus. The Belgian suffered a stroke early some time…
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Phuket golfers getting ready for Youth Games
PHUKET: The Youth Golf Club of Phuket has sent one young player to compete in the United States before preparing for the Phuket Youth Games to be held from May 28 to June 5 with 10 other members of the club. Jinjuta Thongtan, a student at Satree School Phuket, was selected to represent Thailand at the World Junior Golf Series…
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Phuket Youth Sailing Club stars in King’s Cup dinghy events
PHUKET: A strong fleet of 34 Optimist and eight Lasers took part in the recent King’s Cup International Dinghy Regatta, with fifteen sailors from the Phuket Youth Sailing Club (PYSC) between the ages of seven and 15 who joined other sailors from Phuket, Phang Nga, Samui, Songkhla and Sattahip to take part in the three-day event. On day one, the…
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Phuket’s ‘labor shortage’ more imagined than real
PHUKET: Government assistance to help solve the chronic “labor shortage” in the island’s tourism industry is unlikely to have much impact this high season, given Phuket’s reputation as an expensive place to live. (See page 11, current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click here to download the full issue.) A scan of the comments in popular online forums…
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FC Phuket draw, Krabi clinches Div 1 berth
PHUKET: Krabi FC will join FC Phuket in Thai Premier League Division 1 next season thanks to a last-minute goal in a do-or-die match against promotion contenders Rayong FC last night. In front of a standing-room-only crowd at Krabi Provincial Stadium last night, the Andaman Eagle’s equalizer came only moments after Rayong FC scored the game’s first goal – at…
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Facebook ‘predator’ arrested as Phuket mum pleas for help
PHUKET: Eleven days after her disappearance from a Phuket Town internet cafe, 12-year-old Phuket schoolgirl Samudchaya “Nong Pin” Yanpunya remains missing. Nong Pin’s mother Samruay Saenthaweesuk told the Phuket Gazette this morning she has yet to receive any leads regarding her daughter’s whereabouts and continues to fear she might have been abducted by someone she met online while using the…
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Phuket port expansion to get Cabinet push: Kittisakdi
PHUKET: Deputy Minister of Transport Kittisakdi Hathasongkorh yesterday vowed to support plans to expand Phuket’s Deep Sea Port, which have run aground over its environmental impact assessment (EIA) report. At a meeting at Phuket’s Deep Sea Port, Phuket Marine Office Chief Phuripat Theerakulpisut yesterday explained to Mr Kittisakdi that his office had been working for more than a year on…
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Driver charged over death of pregnant Phuket resort worker
PHUKET: The driver of the six-wheeled truck that struck and killed 27-year-old resort worker Arayada Budsayakul on the Patong beach road last month has been charged with reckless driving causing death. Ms Arayada was four months pregnant when she died in the accident on November 8. Lt Pathapee Srichai of Patong Police yesterday told the Phuket Gazette that the driver,…
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Phuket Update: Krabi massacre mastermind caught in Phang Nga
PHUKET: Police in Phang Nga have arrested the mastermind behind the triple-homicide that took place outside a Krabi mosque on Sunday night. The suspect confessed to organizing the massacre. He said the attack was revenge for “insults” the targets had made about his brother after defeating him in a local election. Region 8 Police in Surat Thani identified the suspect…
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Phuket TB outbreak prompts call for “better migrant worker tracking’
PHUKET: An outbreak of tuberculosis in Phuket that has hospitalized nearly 60 Burmese workers has prompted the Phuket Immigration chief to call for a more integrated approach to tracking their growing numbers on the island. Phuket Immigration Superintendent Panuwat Ruamrak called for more comprehensive tracking of migrant workers during a fact-finding visit to Phuket by the House Committee on Labor…
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Phuket parties as Patong Carnival gets underway
PHUKET: Heavy downpours stopped just in time last night as thousands of people lined the streets of Patong to watch the parade and opening ceremonies of Phuket’s annual Patong Carnival. The colorful parade comprised of floats from 23 Phuket organizations along with countless more people who joined in the celebrations at the last moment. “Phuket has many beautiful tourist attractions…
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Tesco launches ‘green bag’ project in Phuket
PHUKET: Leading retail chain Tesco Lotus launched a pilot project at its new Thalang branch in Phuket yesterday with the aim of reducing plastic bag use nationwide. The project is intended to encourage customers at all its stores in Phuket to use fewer plastic bags in order to help preserve the island’s natural beauty for future generations. The project is…
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FC Phuket scramble to score funding
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) will cease its financial support of the island’s professional football club, FC Phuket, starting next season, one of the club’s managers confirmed today.Narubas “Ko Lek” Aryupong told the Phuket Gazette that the team is now seeking new sponsorship channels to pay for players’ salaries and training allowances.He confirmed that Thailand’s Auditor-General’s Office had…
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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