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 City Police crash helmet campaign gets high-level backing
PHUKET: Deputy Interior Minister Thavorn Senniam was so impressed with the effort of Phuket City Police Station to get all motorbike riders and passengers to don safety helmets that he has asked the Governor’s Office to extend the initiative across the entire province. Mr Thavorn, who arrived at Phuket International Airport this morning on a one-day inspection tour, was greeted…
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Phuket surf claims two, endangers 170
PHUKET: The rough surf that arrived with the monsoon season has claimed two lives and resulted in at least 117 swimmers being dragged to safety ashore between April 26 and June 25, according to statistics recently released by the Phuket Lifeguard Club. The club, which patrols Phuket’s main beaches, took on the work on April 26 after signing a contract…
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Phuket butterfly release on Saturday
PHUKET: The Phuket Butterfly Garden and Insect World will hold its annual butterfly release ceremony on Saturday morning at the Khao Phra Thaew Wildlife Conservation Area in Thalang. Phuket Butterfly Garden Managing Director Wasin Koysiripong said the event, now in its fourth year, came about from the Butterfly Garden’s ability to breed butterflies and the recognition that the number of…
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Phuket karaoke killing: teen arrested
PHUKET: Phuket City Police have charged a young man with murder and issued an arrest warrant for his father, after the pair allegedly stabbed to death a Phuket man at a karaoke bar in Wichit on Sunday night. A crowd of bar girls, patrons and other onlookers were standing outside the Chumporn Karaoke bar on the corner of Kwang and…
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Full-Moon frazzled farang in BB rampage
SURAT THANI: Koh Phang Ngan police came under a hail of BB gunfire when they tried to subdue a middle-aged Swiss tourist on a rampage in a weaponry shop, Khao Sod has reported. Boom BB Guns shop owner Manop Wongtawan on the morning of July 4 called police to his store, which sells BB guns as well as knives and…
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Phuket City Police helmet crackdown hits the big screen
PHUKET: It was ‘standing room only’ at Phuket City Police Station this morning as hundreds of people caught on motorbikes without helmets crammed into the fourth-floor meeting room to watch a movie showing graphic images taken from road accident scenes. The viewings are all part of the Phuket City Police effort to enforce a long-ignored traffic law requiring all people…
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Phuket murder suspect turns self in, claims innocence
PHUKET: Police on Saturday announced the arrest of the third suspect wanted in connection with the June 26 shooting murder of 17-year-old Witarn Chuaykuea at a Phuket Town gas station. Watcharin “James” Limmanee, 21, handed himself in to Phuket City Police Station last Thursday to proclaim his innocence. Narongchai “Tan” Boonprom of Nakhon Sri Thammarat, arrested earlier, confessed to shooting…
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Readers call for charity for family of Phuket murder victim
PHUKET: In response to recurring suggestions from readers that a donation channel be set up to raise funds to help the mother and two young children of murder victim Wanphen Pienjai, the Phuket Gazette is currently working with a major, worldwide charitable organization to receive and administer funds. We hope to be in a position to announce details of that…
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Phuket Gazette Readers’ Poll: Patong sign a waste of money
PHUKET: A wide majority of Phuket Gazette online readers think the project to build a welcome sign on Patong Hill is a waste of taxpayer money, the latest Readers’ Poll has revealed. Readers were asked on June 21 which of three statements most accurately matched their view of the 9.1-million-baht project, funded under the central government’s Thai Khem Khaeng (Strong…
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FAT Football: Phuket beat Trang, 2-0
PHUKET: FC Phuket strengthened their grip on the Football Association of Thailand’s Division Two (South section) title with a hard-fought 2-0 win over second-placed Trang at Surakul Stadium on Saturday. With a game in hand, FC Phuket were two points ahead of Trang going into their first home match since the mid-season break. FC Phuket dominated possession in the first…
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Phuket chosen as Asian HQ
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. World Cup? Get instantaneous scores and news updates right here on the Gazette Online (fed directly from FIFA). PHUKET: Asia Travel Tips reports that Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Asia has officially established Phuket as its Regional Operating Headquarters (ROH).…
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New sketch of suspect in Phuket murder of Wanphen Pienjai
PHUKET: Police have released a sketch of what the prime suspect in the Wanphen Pienjai murder case may look like without a full beard. Ms Pienjai’s naked body was found stuffed in a suitcase in Phuket on June 24. For our previous report, click here. She was last seen leaving her workplace at the Sweetheart Bar in Kata with a…
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Thai politics not ‘all in the family’
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. World Cup? Get instantaneous scores and news updates right here on the Gazette Online (fed directly from FIFA). PHUKET: In stark contrast with the family of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who speak with one voice on seemingly all…
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Phuket ‘bypass-bypass’ construction stalled
PHUKET: Budget problems are holding up work to complete a road linking the bypass road to a section of Ekwahnit Road near the back entrance to Surakul Stadium. Work on the project, known jokingly as the bypass-bypass road, was stalled for months because the road was blocked by a home belonging to a family of squatters who settled the area…
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Mother of Phuket murder victim tells of her pain
PHUKET: The mother of Wanphen Pienjai, the bar hostess whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase in Phuket last week, has spoken of her anguish over the murder of her daughter. Sa-ard Maliwan, 59, told the Gazette she is praying every day for police to catch the killer. “He deserves to be punished hard for what he did to…
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Parade kicks off Phuket helmet crackdown
PHUKET: Phuket City Police kicked off their helmet safety campaign yesterday with around 4,000 helmet-clad riders on some 2,000 motorbikes parading down the island’s roads. From now on, police are pledging to crack down heavily on both drivers and passengers without helmets. Thai traffic law states that both drivers and passengers without helmets can be fined up to 500 baht.…
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Couple get lucky with stolen ATM card, then get arrested
PHUKET: A Thai couple relieved an Irish expat of more than 750,000 baht after stealing his ATM card in Phuket and guessing his PIN number from his birth date, police said. Chai Bunrit, 26, and Pacharin Rathanaphansunthara, 24, then went on a spree, buying a car and staying in luxury hotels across the South before their arrest in a luxury…
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Red-shirt protests hit Phuket leukemia patient
PHUKET: Jenarong Tapklaeng, a 16-year-old leukemia patient from Phuket, spent almost a month in Bangkok for medical consultations that should have taken just a few days after his hospital was shut down because of the red-shirt protests. Doctors at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital were set to examine the possibility of performing a bone marrow transplant on Jenarong, who is currently…
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Tourism: Phuket better than most
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. World Cup? Get instantaneous scores and news updates right here on the Gazette Online (fed directly from FIFA). PHUKET: Tourism in Thailand suffered heavily in May, but Phuket continued to do better than most. The Bangkok Post reports that…
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Phuket City Police hunt expat murder suspect
PHUKET: Phuket City Police are asking the public for help in their search for a Caucasian man who is the prime suspect in the murder of 33-year-old Wanphen Pienjai, the bar hostess whose remains were discovered stuffed into a large suitcase in tambon Wichit last week. Ms Wanphen, a native of Petchaboon province, was an employee of the Sweetheart Bar…
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Pheu Thai opens office in Phuket
PHUKET: The opposition Pheu Thai Party has launched a bid to win seats in southern provinces in upcoming elections by setting up operations centers in key Andaman Coast provinces, including Phuket. Party spokesman Prompong Nopparit said at the Phuket center’s opening ceremony on June 24, “We are ready to fight for representation in the next elections. Phuket is the first…
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Phuket arrest: Father remains jailed
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. World Cup? Get instantaneous scores and news updates right here on the Gazette Online (fed directly from FIFA). PHUKET: A father volunteered to remain in jail in the United States on Monday while awaiting trial on charges that he…
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Thailand warning on dengue fever
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. World Cup? Get instantaneous scores and news updates right here on the Gazette Online (fed directly from FIFA). PHUKET: Thailand is facing a major outbreak of dengue fever and cholera, which have killed 30 people over the past six…
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Phuket family to climb Mt Kinabalu
PHUKET: Two young sisters, nine-year-old Kasia Sambrook and her sister Alicia, 6, are in training to scale one of the largest mountains in the region next month in order to raise money for stray dogs. The two girls have their eyes on the 4,095-meter peak of Mount Kinabalu in Borneo, the fourth highest peak in the Malay Archipelago. All of…
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Two teens arrested for Phuket shooting murder
PHUKET: A 17-year-old was left dead after one man’s jealousy turned fatal in Phuket Town on Saturday night. Phuket City Police today announced the arrests 19-year-old Narongchai ‘Tan’ Boonprom of Nakhon Sri Thammarat and 27-year-old Phuket native Kajorn ‘Ee’ Chansri for their involvement in the murder of Phuket youth Witarn Chuaykuea, 17. An accomplice identified only as ‘James’ remains at…
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Kathu culture fair a weekend hit
PHUKET: While many island residents partied the weekend away at the Phuket Music Festival in Karon, Kathu came to life with streetlights, red lanterns and numerous cultural activities as part of the second annual Kathu Culture Road street fair that took place on Kathu Soi 4. Funded at about 1 million baht, the three-night fair was an attempt by Kathu…
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Blackout in Phuket tomorrow
PHUKET: There will be a blackout in parts of Chalong tomorrow to allow workers to carry out maintenance on high voltage power lines, the Provincial Electricity Authority has announced. The power cut will last from approximately 9am to 4pm. The affected areas will be along the west side of Chao Fah West Road, from Soi Baan Krang to the Ananda…
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Woman fends off mugger in Phuket
PHUKET: A young woman last week fought off a would-be robber by biting his arm, causing the attacker to flee empty-handed down Soi Yodsane in Phuket. The incident happened around 4am on June 24 after the victim, Rhian ‘Fon’ Hartman, was leaving her job as a public relations officer at a well-known restaurant in Kathu. Ms Hartman drove on her…
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Software Park Phuket ‘Tech Talk’ series for July
PHUKET: Software Park Phuket has announced its schedule of weekly ‘Tech Talk’ discussions for July: July 1: ‘Worry-free, legal-licensed, free open source business software‘, by LisAndi (English presentation with Thai translation). July 8: ‘Get to know Google Docs’ by Phuket Innovation Incubation Center, Software Park Phuket (Thai presentation with English slides, no translation). July 15: ‘CAT CDMA 3G: Wireless technology…
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Phuket flights: Air Bagan to Burma?
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. World Cup? Get instantaneous scores and news updates right here on the Gazette Online (fed directly from FIFA). PHUKET: Myanmar’s two private airlines have announced plans to purchase new aircraft to service new routes, including Phuket, in time for…
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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