Phuket News
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Phuket Town blackout on Wednesday
PHUKET. The Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA) has announced a major blackout affecting areas in central Phuket Town on Wednesday. The blackout, between 9am and 4pm, is to allow PPEA staff to carry out maintenance work on high-voltage power lines. The affected areas will be Phun Pol Road Sois 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and Kra Road Sois 10…
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Patong residents to pay for wastewater
PHUKET: Patong Mayor Pian Keesin announced today that Patong Municipality will start charging residents and business owners for wastewater treatment. The news was delivered this morning at a meeting with visiting members of the Senate Standing Committee for Natural Resources and the Environment. The committee members are on a two-day fact-finding visit to Phuket. “Patong is continually growing. More people…
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Thai sailors seek blessing from Phuket’s Heroines
PHUKET: The captain and crew of the Royal Thai Navy HTMS Thalang this morning performed a ceremony seeking the blessing of Phuket’s renowned heroines Thao Thepkrasattri and Thao Srisoonthorn. Presiding over the ceremony was Lt Cdr Apiruk Mangkorn, commander of the HTMS Thalang. Reinforced by members of the ship’s 75 crew, Lt Cdr Apiruk asked for Phuket’s ‘guardian angels’ to…
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Plans to build Phuket offshore diesel station on hold
PHUKET: A public hearing held yesterday has left in limbo plans to convert a water-refilling platform in Chalong Bay into an offshore petrol station. The meeting, held at the Al Wallan Hidayah Mosque in Rawai, was called after a letter of protest against the project was filed with the provincial government by Sommai Naoprai, the president of a group called…
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Long trail leads police to Phuket auto theft gang
PHUKET: Patong Police have arrested six suspects accused of running a car and motorcycle theft racket in Phuket’s entertainment hub, Patong. The Thai and Burmese suspects were presented at Kathu Police Station yesterday along with eight stolen motorcycles, parts of a further four or five bikes, mechanic’s tools, spray painting equipment, one stolen pickup truck and six other cars that…
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Phuket Big Buddha donations to continue
PHUKET: The foundation constructing Phuket’s Big Buddha image will continue to collect donations for the project, the Phuket Gazette has learned. The news follows a provincial committee ruling that the Mingmongkol Faith 45 Foundation was no longer allowed to advertise or publicly solicit donations for the project. The committee ruling stated that the organization will be allowed to receive donations…
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Phuket Disgrace: Airport needs to double its Immigration officers
PHUKET: Phuket International Airport has only half the number of Immigration officers it needs to effectively handle the high volume of tourists using the facility, the leading senator of a fact-finding team was told today. The team, comprising the 26 senators who form the Standing Committees for Transport and for Natural Resources and the Environment, arrived in Phuket yesterday to…
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Yingluck’s official, but who will call the shots?
BANGKOK (The Nation): Officially, only Yingluck Shinawatra, confirmed as Thailand’s new Prime Minister today, and Yongyuth Vichaidit, her Pheu Thai party’s leader, have the final say on who is to be included in the Cabinet. Unofficially, nobody is quite sure who will call the shots. Most reports in the media seem to ignore the party’s official version. So far, every…
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Yingluck becomes first female Thai prime minister
PHUKET: Yingluck Shinawatra today became Thailand’s first female prime minister, by winning 296 of 299 votes in Parliament, state-news agency MCOT has reported. Mrs Yingluck was confirmed as prime minister shortly before noon today after a campaign that saw her Pheu Thai party sweep to victory over the former ruling Democrat Party. There were 197 abstentions in the House of…
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Phuket probe digs deep into ‘missing hill’ row
PHUKET: Land owners digging up and selling the earth on their plots in central Phuket has sparked a row from neighbors, who say the extensive excavation work is causing dangerous landslips, for which they are seeking 300,000 baht in compensation. An investigation headed by Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkhaosutthirak yesterday deemed much of the excavation work on the plot in Srisoonthorn,…
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Phuket residents cry foul over poisoned water
PHUKET: Parents and local residents are calling for action against repeated poisoning of a canal along a major Phuket Town school, killing hundreds of fish. About 5pm yesterday, residents entered a section of Klong Bang Yai that runs next to Satree Phuket School on Damrong Road and removed hundreds of dead fish. The water in the canal was black, thick…
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Young woman drowns after fall at Phuket’s Phromthep Cape
PHUKET: Police have confirmed the identity of a Thai woman who slipped off rocks and drowned at Phromthep Cape late yesterday afternoon as that of Yula Suwan, 20, from Chiang Rai. Miss Yula arrived at Phuket’s iconic peninsula with a friend to take photos at about 5pm, said Chalong Police Duty Officer Lt Attawat Suwannarat. “They walked down the cape…
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Swedish murder case in Phuket sends reader interest off the charts
PHUKET: Not since the tsunami in December 2004 have readers around the world shown so much interest in a single event in Phuket. Yesterday, as on December 27, 2004, the day after the waves hit, the demand for news, fueled by the Phuket murder of Swedish national Maksim Schantz, swamped and knocked over the Gazette Online for a period of…
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Phuket Live Wire: Surprise island internet speeds
PHUKET: A little less than two months ago we changed the method for measuring internet speeds, as reported on PhuketInternetSpeed.com. Before that point, we were measuring international download speeds using a technique that was prone to caching – Internet Service Providers, using tools that are actually beneficial to customers like us, automatically bypassed the speed testing regimen. So we switched…
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Phuket Red Cross blood drive to honor HM Queen Sirikit’s birthday
PHUKET: In honor of HM Queen Sirikit’s 79th birthday and Mother’s Day on August 12, the Phuket Regional Blood Center is hoping for an increase in donations this month. The center has set a higher target than usual for this drive, aiming to stock up in anticipation for an increased demand for blood in the coming months. “We received 1,568…
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Swedish slashers confess to Phuket police
PHUKET: Phuket City Police tonight charged two Swedish men they say confessed to the murder yesterday of 25-year-old Maksim Schantz. Police said they caught Tommy Viktor Soderlund, 26, and Johan Sebastian Ljung, 25, hiding out at Surin Sweet Hotel on Surin Beach where they had recently rented a room. The pair confessed that they tracked Mr Schantz down through Facebook…
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MET: Phuket haze ‘not a load of hot air’
PHUKET: The blanket of haze seen across Phuket today was only fog and not related to Indonesian wild fires, the top official at the Thai Meteorological Department weather center in Phuket said today. “The fog was caused by a decrease in air pressure and temperature and an increase in humidity coupled with intermittent rains, causing the air to sink,” said…
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New test center to boost Phuket drug convictions
PHUKET: A Public Health Ministry center in Phuket is now conducting drug tests on urine and blood samples provided by police in a move that is expected to boost the number of drug convictions in Phuket. The tests will be conducted at the Regional Medical Sciences Center in Phuket, just north of the Heroines’ Monument on Thepkrasattri Road in Thalang.…
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BREAKING NEWS: Swedish duo arrested for Phuket stabbing murder
PHUKET: Phuket City Police have confirmed to the Phuket Gazette that two Swedish men have been arrested in connection with the stabbing murder yesterday of Maksim Schantz. Tommy Viktor Soderlund, 26, and Johan Sebastian Ljung, 25, are both in custody, a police officer said on condition of anonymity. Police are due to hold a press conference this evening when more…
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Phuket police extend manhunt for accomplice in slaying of Swede
PHUKET: Police have stressed to the Phuket Gazette that they have not identified the alleged accomplice of Tommy Viktor Soderlund, the man being sought for the murder of Swedish national Maksim Schantz last night. Phuket City Police Deputy Superintendent Jumroon Playdoung told the Gazette that local media reports identifying a 36-year-old Swedish man as Soderlund’s accomplice in the brutal stabbing…
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Swedish expat stabbed to death at luxury villa in Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket Police are investigating the stabbing murder of a Swedish man ambushed and stabbed to death as he returned to his luxury villa in Koh Kaew subdistrict last night. The murder took place in full view of neighbors. The police identified the deceased as a 25-year-old Swedish national. The name of the victim is known to the Phuket Gazette,…
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Phuket in the mood for seafood
PHUKET: The Phuket Seafood Fiesta got underway today with an official launch at Jungceylon in Phuket’s resort town of Patong. The festival offers a 10 to 20% discount on seafood dishes at more than 60 restaurants on the island from today through August 31, explained Bangonrat Shinaprayoon, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) regional office in Phuket. Coinciding…
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Phuket daycare teacher charged over child beatings
PHUKET: The Phuket daycare teacher allegedly caught on video beating her students has been charged with child abuse, with the possibility of more charges to come. Meanwhile, Wichit Municipality has taken over the Wat Thepnimit daycare center, where parents and other teachers say the beatings took place regularly. The scandal unfolded on July 24 when teachers from the daycare center…
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New Phuket bridge opens to traffic
PHUKET: The new Thao Srisoonthorn Bridge, unofficially called “Sarasin Bridge 2”, opened to traffic heading northbound off Phuket this morning. The first vehicle to trundle onto the 300-million-baht span was a van carrying Phuket Provincial Highways Office Chief Arun Sanae and his immediate superior, Sakchai Suwanprasert, head of the regional Highways Office. However, Mr Arun warned motorists that the left…
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Missing Aussie tourist found alive and well in Phuket
PHUKET: Missing Australian tourist Geoffrey Hoffmann has been found alive and well. Mr Hoffmann disappeared while going for a morning walk at the lake at Karon Park on Saturday. His family raised the alarm after he failed to return four hours later. Their concern was heightened by the fact that Mr Hoffmann suffers from short-term memory loss. Mr Hoffmann’s brother-in-law…
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Final countdown
PHUKET: “It is not an easy draw. You have to be really, really focused and play every game like a final – but that will be another manager’s job.” England’s Italian manager, Fabio Capello, leaves advice for the next head on the chopping-block, that is the national team’s managerial role. Capello was present for the 2014 World Cup qualification draw…
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Buried alive in Phuket: How much longer do we need to suffer the landslides?
PHUKET: Another rainy season in Phuket, and yet another death from a landslide. The trench collapse on Monday that killed Burmese laborer Min Hla Thein came just nine days after new workplace ‘health and safety’ legislation came into effect. [See news feature, pages 4-5, current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click here to download the full newspaper.] Among…
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Van crash kills two Phuket buffalo, tourists safe
PHUKET: Three people were injured early this morning when a Phuket passenger van slammed into two buffalo, killing both. Thalang Police were notified of the accident at 1:30am. At the scene they found a Toyota passenger van with its front smashed in and its three passengers slightly injured. The driver, identified as 43-year-old Suchart Kaow-ian, was taking two foreign tourists…
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It’s Official: Phuket Town still the worst for drugs
PHUKET: Phuket Town has maintained its place as the top district in upper Southern Thailand for drug crime, an accolade the popular tourist town has held for the past three years, a Bangkok health official was told yesterday. The news was revealed at a meeting of the Phuket Provincial Anti-Drug Committee at Provincial Hall. Regular chiefs on the committee include…
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Hurtling Phuket hill boulders continue to threaten resort
PHUKET: Heavy rains in Phuket over the past week have caused more boulders to hurtle downhill into the L’Orchidee Residences in Patong. Although the boulders were smaller than the original two-tonne “devil’s marbles” that crashed into the resort at the beginning of this month, they have still caused damage and much concern, said Wassana Yukhunthon, the resort’s public relations manager.…
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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