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.
-
Sponsored Is private health insurance in Thailand worth it? Real costs vs risks explained
Thailand has a strong healthcare system with both public and private options. Public hospitals offer affordable care, but many people, including expats, choose private health insurance for faster service, modern facilities, and more treatment choices. To decide if private health...
-
Patong Hospital floods, 40 patients evacuated
PHUKET: Flooding of the basement at Patong Hospital forced doctors there to evacuate about 40 patients as a precaution, transferring them to facilities elsewhere in Phuket. “Some of them were transferred to Vachira Phuket Hospital [in Phuket Town], while others were discharged early so they could go home,” said Hospital Director Dr Phumin Silaphan. Heavy rain on Thursday saw flood…
-
Market fire leaves Phuket vendors broke
PHUKET: Market vendors whose shops were destroyed by fire on Wednesday are seeking government assistance in restarting their businesses. Tossapol Rungruengpawan, president of Patong Retail Business Club, told the Phuket Gazette that the fire caused an estimated 50 million baht in total damage. Most of the vendors did not have insurance as most insurance companies do not offer policies for…
-
Phuket to get speed and traffic cameras
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization will spend 17 million baht on installing speed and traffic cameras to catch people running red lights in Phuket. “The cameras will not be of the same type used in a project launched recently in Bangkok. [With this type] we will know who exceeds the speed limit and who breaks traffic laws – and…
-
Brit tourist in Phuket dies in soaked power surge
PHUKET: A young British tourist died in Patong early this morning after he accidentally placed his hand on an outdoor, floor-mounted power socket covered with water. The 20-year-old man, whose name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, was sitting in the undercover forecourt of the Ocean Plaza Patong [shopping mall] on Soi Bangla at about 6am when…
-
Phuket forecast: heavy rain to continue through the weekend
PHUKET: Over the past 24 hours Phuket experienced the heaviest rains since the freak storms of last March, with reports all over the island of flooding and downed trees and power poles. One of the heaviest hit areas was Patong, where knee deep water caused traffic jams along parts of Phang Muang Sai Kor road, especially near Patong Hospital and…
-
TAT confident in big numbers for 2011 Phuket Veg Fest
PHUKET: THE current economic climate will have no effect on the Phuket Vegetarian Festival this year, says the director of the southern regional office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). The festival last year generated about 500 million baht in revenue for the local economy, said Director Bangornrat Shinaprayoon. She expects this year’s event, to be held from September…
-
Toyota League Cup: Phattalung def FC Phuket, 4-3 on aggregate
PHUKET: FC Phuket’s hopes of advancing to the final four of the 2011 Toyota League Cup were squashed Wednesday night by Division 2 upstarts Phattalung FC, who played to a wild 3-3 extra time draw to win on aggregate 4-3. The pressure was on for the Southern Sea Kirin in their first home match in seven weeks, fueled by a…
-
FC Phuket need win by two goals
PHUKET: Football action returns to Surakul Stadium tonight at 7pm with FC Phuket set to host Pattalung FC in the second leg and deciding match of the Toyota League Cup 2011 quarterfinals. Phuket’s loss to Pattalung last week from a solitary goal means that Phuket will need to win by two goals tonight if they are to advance in the…
-
Mother reclaims Phuket “Ramadan’
PHUKET: The mother of the baby reported found abandoned on Sunday night has presented herself at Patong Hospital and is now reunited with her one-month-old son, named Ramadan. Kamala Police Duty Officer Somnerk Dumkeaw said, “It was a misunderstanding. The baby boy was not abandoned. His name is Ramadan because he was born in the Muslim month of Ramadan. His…
-
Fire destroys Phuket’s Koh Kaew Market
PHUKET: A large fire ripped through an undercover clothes market of more than 200 stalls in the heart of Patong, on Phuket’s west coast, early this morning. The fire broke out at the Koh Kaew Market, next to the Jungceylon shopping complex on Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Road, at about 3am. Six fire trucks and more than 20 firefighters arrived to…
-
HRH Chulabhorn grants free medical care to three Phuket afflicted
PHUKET: HRH Princess Chulabhorn Valayalaksana today granted much-needed specialist medical care to three Phuket residents who would otherwise not receive the treatment they need. Princess Chulabhorn arrived at Baan Sapam Mongkol Wittaya School in Koh Kaew, just north of Phuket Town, at 2:30pm in support of a free mobile medical clinic being held there under the Princess Mother’s Medical Volunteer…
-
Phuket Live Wire: WiFi you wouldn’t believe
PHUKET: There’s important breaking news on the internet scene in Phuket: TOT is now offering something they call “WiFi”. The first, most important thing to understand is that this isn’t the kind of WiFi you know. It’s completely different. TOT has taken confusing terminology to new lows. The “WiFi” TOT is selling has nothing to do with the WiFi you…
-
Phuket taxi cartel grants US Military safe passage
PHUKET: More than 4,000 United States Military personnel arrived at Phuket’s Deep Sea Port yesterday with no reports of transport problems as they made their way to destinations around the island. The USS Boxer amphibious-ready group consisting of three ships – the USS Boxer amphibious assault ship, the USS Green Bay amphibious transport dock ship and the USS Comstock amphibious…
-
Abandoned baby rescued in Phuket
PHUKET: Kamala Police are searching for the parents of an infant found abandoned in Phuket last night. Neighbors who heard the relentless crying of an infant found the boy, age estimated at about two months, in an unnumbered home in Kamala Village 5 at about 9pm. They contacted local tambon chief Santi Saraya, who in turn notified Kamala Police and…
-
Phuket drug tip-offs lead to four arrests, 6,000 pills seized
PHUKET: An anti-drug squad in Thalang District, which covers most of the north of Phuket, last night nabbed four people for drugs, culminating with the arrest of an alleged dealer with more than 5,000 pills early this morning. The squad, comprising four Thalang Police officers and officials from the Thalang District Office, began the night’s work with the arrest of…
-
FC Phuket bag first road win
PHUKET: After a series of ten consecutive losses and draws, FC Phuket won their first road game against a luckless RBAC side in Bangkok yesterday afternoon. FC Phuket scored the only goal of the match just two minutes into play, when a long pass from Nittiroj Sukuma was chested down inside the penalty area by Watcharapong Jun-ngam, then deftly passed…
-
Football: FC Phuket to fight for first Division 1 road win today
PHUKET: FC Phuket are in Bangkok today to try to record their first road win in Division 1 against last-place RBAC, who have yet to win a home match after 10 attempts. Phuket’s Southern Sea Kirin will go into the match without defensive stalwart Nene Bi Tra Sylvestre, who must sit out the game due to a one-game penalty suspension.…
-
Phuket hosting regional Scrabble competition in bid to boost students’ vocabulary
PHUKET: Some 700 young Scrabble enthusiasts are in Phuket this weekend to compete in the southern regionals of the 5th annual CyberDict Crossword competition. Grouped into three age categories (primary, lower secondary, upper secondary), the students are vying for places in the national finals to be held in Bangkok at the end of the year. Techus Pogool, a 16-year-old from…
-
Phuket pineapple goes on show
PHUKET: The annual Phuket Pineapple and Flower Fair is now underway at Saphan Hin Park in Phuket Town. Organized by the Phuket Provincial Agricultural Office, Phuket City Municipality and the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization, this year’s fair will feature exhibitions of Phuket Pineapple (called yanat in the local southern Thai dialect), pineapple peeling and processing competitions, and flower decoration contests.…
-
Phuket Airport taxi worker killed in motorbike crash
PHUKET: An employee of the Phuket Airport taxi cooperative was killed instantly yesterday when her motorcycle was hit head-on by a pickup truck cutting across traffic at a U-turn on Thepkrasattri Road in Thalang. Thalang Police were notified of the accident at 3:30pm. At the scene, the turn-off to Baan Pa Krong Cheep off Thepkrasattri Rd southbound in Thepkrasattri subdistrict,…
-
HRH Princess Chulabhorn to visit Phuket
PHUKET: HRH Princess Chulabhorn Valayalaksana will visit Phuket on Tuesday in support of the volunteers who provide free healthcare under the The Princess Mother’s Medical Volunteer Foundation. The foundation is renowned for providing free general healthcare and critically needed medical services to people who otherwise could not afford it. Princess Chulabhorn will arrive at Baan Sapam Mongkol Wittaya School by…
-
Phuket mass Thai massage sets unofficial record
PHUKET: Hundreds of Phuket massage therapists lined Kata Beach this morning ready to play their part in a mass Thai massage session that unofficially broke the standing world record. A total of 584 pairs of hands worked in unison to rub and relax, surpassing the current official record of 232 pairs of hands set by “Tourism Victoria Australia”. An officer…
-
Welcome to Phuket: Swede robbed of B1 million on Day One
PHUKET: A couple who moved into their new Phuket home in a quiet neighborhood yesterday have already reported their house being burgled – and losing valuables totaling about one million baht in the process. They had not spent a single night in their new home before they were robbed. Lars Gustav Torsten Lindgren, 57, told the Phuket Gazette today that…
-
Poles apart
PHUKET: “This morning I watched the two sides warming up. I saw India, and they looked like they’d got their kit out of the garage! They were all in different gear. England looked really professional next to them. They just looked poles apart.” Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff expressed his disappointment yesterday with the Indian side’s preparations for the fourth and final…
-
Free Thai Massage: Phuket prepares to set world record
PHUKET: A total of 584 pairs of hands will be working together tomorrow at Kata Beach in Phuket’s attempt to set the world record for the most people simultaneously performing Thai massage. The current record stands at 232 pair, set on March 20 last year by Tourism Victoria Australia. Phuket’s attempt will more than double the record, but the digits…
-
Phuket expat deported over fraud charges
PHUKET: American Roger Miller today pleaded to the press that he himself was a victim of fraud as he faces immediate extradition to Florida for allegedly defrauding investors of US$1.2 million. “Between 2006 and 2009, Mr Miller operated a real estate business named Rama Lama Mortgage that dealt with property transactions including estate mortgages,” Phuket Immigration Superintendent Panuwat Ruamrak explained…
-
Red turtles rise in Phuket Town
PHUKET: Phuket’s ethnic Chinese community is in the midst of celebrating its annual Por Tor festival to honor their ancestors. The annual festival is held on the first day of the waxing moon in the seventh Chinese calendar month. This year, the festivities began on Tuesday with a ceremony at the Fresh Market on Ranong Rd in Phuket Town after…
-
Phuket hosts Indonesian tourism push to revive Aceh
PHUKET: A delegation from the Indonesian Ministry of Culture and Tourism will host a reception for about 200 Phuket residents at Ao Chalong Yacht Club (ACYC) tomorrow. The event is part of the ministry’s strategy to revive and promote tourism to Aceh Province, the hardest hit landfall of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The ministry has identified yachting as a…
-
Phuket airport limo in vehicular bovicide
PHUKET: A Phuket airport limousine plowed into and killed a roaming buffalo early Monday morning at the same location where a tourist passenger van killed two buffaloes late last month. No people were injured in this latest accident. “The car was heading toward Phuket Town at about 1:30am. The driver said the buffalo appeared from nowhere, crossing the road right…
-
Phuket and Pattalung football battle in the south
PHUKET: FC Phuket take on Pattalung FC this evening in a highly anticipated first-leg quarter final for the 2011 Toyota League Cup football tournament. Kick off is scheduled for 6pm. The purple and white shirted Pattalung “Swiftlets”, also known as the “Swallows”, will be the hosts of tonight’s game at Pattalung Provincial stadium in Pattalung town. The second leg will…
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.