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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Sponsored FBS celebrates 16 years with an adventurous Birthday Quest
Leading global broker FBS is marking its 16th anniversary with a special campaign — FBS Birthday Quest. Over the past 16 years, FBS has been on an incredible journey alongside its clients. Now, as a way to give back, the...
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Cabinet approves Phuket Bt2.6b convention center
PHUKET: Cabinet has approved plans for the long-awaited International Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC) in Mai Khao to go ahead, with construction likely to get under way mid-2012. That was the news at a public hearing for the mega-project held at the Phuket Merlin Hotel on Wednesday. “Cabinet approved the project on September 28 after the Treasury Department sent the…
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FC Phuket ready for showdown with Chainat FC
PHUKET: FC Phuket will take on Chainat FC tomorrow in a crunch match that will be crucial to their chances of being promoted to Division 1 of the Thai League. “Chainat FC is currently favorite to win our group in the playoffs. The game tomorrow is expected to be an interesting one – and exciting,” said FC Phuket Coach Ajharn…
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Halloween celebrations underway in Phuket
PHUKET: Although Halloween is not widely celebrated on the island, the resident expat community and their kids had a good time dressing up, trick-or-treating and taking part in other fun activities earlier today. Several schools held Halloween events today, the last school day before the actual celebration on Sunday. At Kajonkietsuksa School, secondary students organized fun activities for their nong…
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Phuket murder suspects arrested in Nongkhai
PHUKET: Two brothers wanted for the murder a man in Patong last month were arrested in their home province of Nongkhai and flown back to Phuket to face charges earlier this week. Suphat “Tu” Tiangnoi, 26, and his younger brother Somchai “Bao Dam”, 23, were presented at a press conference at Kathu Police Station on Wednesday. The pair were arrested…
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Four drownings in two months: Phuket Lifeguard Club
PHUKET: At least four people have drowned in the rough monsoon surf at Phuket beaches over the past two months. The Phuket Lifeguard Club’s latest incident report says two died in 371 “incidents” between September 26 and October 25. The number of incidents was up sharply over the previous four weeks, when 184 incidents were reported. As usual, foreigners were…
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Phuket Governor warns developers of flood, landslide risks
PHUKET: Governor Tri Augkaradacha has urged officials and local agencies to be vigilant in preventing flooding and landslides near construction sites and at recently completed housing projects. The call followed the Thai Meteorological Department on Wednesday issuing a wet weather warning for 15 provinces in southern Thailand through the end of the month. Heavy rains caused by a monsoon trough…
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Phuket water woes prompt weir construction
PHUKET: A pilot project in the hills of Kathu is aimed at alleviating water supply woes at the Prince of Songkla University campus in Phuket (PSU-Phuket). The project, headed by Bangkok Hospital Phuket (BHP), involves three weirs, or “mini-dams”, being built on hillside streams to trap and divert runoff. The first weir, which is already completed, fills three 6,000-liter tanks…
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Top Buddhist scholar to give workshop in Phuket
PHUKET: The Phuket International Academy Mind Center (PIAMC) will host a three-day workshop by leading Buddhist scholar Dr Jeffrey Hopkins in December. Taking place over the weekend of December 3-5, the program is based on the Dalai Lama’s enlightening book, How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving Relationships, which provides everyday guidelines for transforming self-centered energy into outwardly…
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Phuket truck accident: 45 gas cylinders hit the road
PHUKET: A tire blowout on a delivery truck left Phuket’s central artery strewn with 45 filled gas cylinders this morning. Fortunately none of the vessels exploded and there were no serious injuries. The accident occurred at around 9am on Thepkrasattri Road southbound in Mai Khao, near the entrance to Blue Canyon Country Club. By 9:30am local police, firefighters and rescue…
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Phuket IT update: ‘Facebook for Business’ seminar on Saturday
PHUKET: Computer guru Woody Leonhard will speak at two upcoming IT seminars in Phuket, starting with an encore of the popular Phuket Software Park seminar Using Facebook to Drive Business in Patong on Saturday morning. PhuketSchool.com director Sitthichai “Mr X” Laoveerakul gave the Facebook presentation last month at a Software Park Phuket meeting. Khun Woody and several Computer Clinic members…
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Culture update: The slow death of the Phuket dialect
PHUKET: Developed over generations in isolation from the mainland, Phuket’s unique version of the southern Thai dialect is dying out, diluted by the huge influx of migrant workers, the tourism boom, mass media and a slew of other factors. The Phuket dialect is unique. Compared with other versions of southern Thai, it tends to be slower and more flowing than…
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Deadline for Phuket ‘yellow pages’
PHUKET: Businesses wishing to appear in the 2011 Gazette Guide, Phuket’s ‘yellow pages’, have until 6pm on Friday, November 12, to enter (or update) their listings. Entries after that date will appear in the Gazette Guide Online only – not in the hard-copy book for 2011. The 400-page book, with details of more than 4,700 businesses serving the international community…
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New international hospital under construction in Krabi
PHUKET: A new private hospital under construction in Krabi Town has prompted talk among local residents of less reliance on medical facilities in Phuket. The 120-bed facility, under construction by Krabi Nakharin Company, will be located on Pisalpop Road. The management company has links with, but is independent from, the group that runs the 135-bed Nakharin Hospital in Nakhon Sri…
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Increase in violent crime reports in Phuket
PHUKET: There has been a sharp increase in violent crime over the past 12 months, recently-released statistics by the Phuket Provincial Police reveal. The figures compare the numbers of reported crime cases for fiscal year 2009 and fiscal year 2010, which ended on September 30. The statistics show a 72.9% increase in reported cases of “heinous crimes”: group muggings, armed…
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Bt1.5b resort to open in Phuket in 2012
PHUKET: A new 350-room, five-star luxury resort will open in the South Patong hillsides of Phuket by the end of 2012. News of the 1.5-billion-baht project was announced by Bangkok-based hotel and resort consultants Mai-BS (Thailand). The firm is headed by Klaus Rauter, former general manager at Andara Villas and Suites. “We are extremely proud of having been selected and…
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Work on Phuket landmark delayed
PHUKET: Work on the “Patong City” welcome sign project is more than a month behind schedule, but should be ready sometime next month, officials say. Construction work was abandoned during heavy rains last week, Patong municipal officer Siwapong Chechang told the Gazette. “It is too dangerous to continue work when it rains heavily so the project is going much slower…
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Kajonkiet to open international school in Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket parents seeking English-language education for their children will have a new option from May next year, when a new Kajonkiet international school is scheduled to open in Kathu. The Kajonkiet group of schools, already the largest provider of private bilingual education in Phuket, hopes to open its first international school in time for the start of the international…
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Highway robbery in Phuket
PHUKET: Three teenagers held up a pair of young women at gunpoint in Thalang early Sunday morning and stole their motorbike. News of the hold-up was reported to Thalang Police by Wirach Rawdboot, the older brother of one of the victims. The woman, with a female friend riding pillion, was driving her Yamaha Fino home from work along a quiet…
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Phuket ramps up flood-relief efforts
PHUKET: The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in Phuket has joined the relief effort for flood victims in Thailand’s north and northeast. Charoensamanakij Temple, behind Phuket Provincial Court, is the collection point for supplies. The group is liaising with the Kusoldharm Foundation to arrange transport for the supplies to hard-hit areas. PAD Phuket coordinator Aparat Chartchutikumjorn said donated items include…
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FC Phuket draw with Rayong FC, 1-1
PHUKET: FC Phuket drew on the road at Rayong FC last night, making success in this Saturday’s home match against undefeated Chainat FC crucial to their chances for promotion to Division 1 of the Thai League. In last night’s game in the AIS Regional League “mini-league” playoffs, FC Phuket went in with one point following a road draw at Samut…
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Phuket poll: Will the drug testing of hotel staff help?
PHUKET: The Gazette on Friday reported that Phuket City Police and hoteliers in Phuket City Police District will launch a “White Hotel” project that will eventually subject hotel staff to mandatory drug testing. Do you think this could be an effective step toward reducing the problem of illegal drug use? Have your say in the latest Phuket Gazette readers’ poll…
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Phuket drivers ‘the worst’: Gazette poll
PHUKET: Phuket drivers don’t think much of fellow road users, with more than 80% saying they are worse than drivers abroad, the results of the latest Phuket Gazette reader’s poll reveal. In the poll launched a week ago, readers were asked: How would you rate the overall behavior of motorists in Phuket compared to those in other places, outside of…
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Phuket flood aid on its way to Lopburi
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Office yesterday dispatched more than 100,000 baht in donated funds and other aid to help the tens of thousands of people affected by flooding in Thailand’s central and northeastern regions. Thus far, at least 17 people have been killed from the deluge in central and northeast Thailand, with tens of thousands displaced and in need of…
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Phuket City hotel staff to face mandatory drug testing
PHUKET: Mandatory drug testing is part of an initiative by Phuket City Police aimed at ridding the district’s hotels and guesthouses of illegal drugs. Representatives of 75 accommodation establishments met yesterday for a briefing on the initiative, dubbed the “White Hotel” project. The scheme is the brainchild of Phuket City Police Deputy Superintendent Chaiwat Auykham, who wants to create a…
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Phuket Thailand Open: Brazilians Franca and Da Silva top seeds
PHUKET: Larissa Franca and Juliana Felisberta Da Silva of Brazil, currently the world’s number-one women’s beach volleyball team, have been ranked as top seeds for the US$190,000 Phuket Thailand Open. The tournament, with PTT as the main sponsor, is the last stop on the 2010 Swatch FIVB Beach Volley World Tour to be held on Karon Beach November 2 to…
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Relatives of Aussie fall victim in Phuket notified
PHUKET: Relatives of the Australian tourist who died of head injuries sustained in a bathroom fall in Patong earlier this week have been notified, the Australian diplomatic mission in Thailand has confirmed. Australian Honorary Consul for Phuket Larry Cunningham told the Gazette this morning that relatives of the deceased, Joseph Edward Thoms, were notified of his passing at 9:30pm yesterday.…
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Sexual assault claim a “misunderstanding’: Vachira Phuket Hospital
PHUKET: Vachira Phuket Hospital has concluded that a sexual assault charge against one of its staff members was the result of a “misunderstanding”. The hospital investigation began after a woman filed a complaint with Phuket City Police on Tuesday that she had been sexually assaulted by hospital staff while undergoing an x-ray examination. Lt Col Sian Kaewthong told the Gazette…
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Phuket flood relief ready to roll
PHUKET: Two trucks loaded with disaster relief supplies for Northeast flood victims will roll out of Phuket today, with a third set to leave tomorrow. The first load of donations, collected by the Kusoldharm Foundation, will leave Phuket this afternoon for flood-stricken Nakhon Ratchasima province. More donations collected by the Red Cross at Provincial Hall will depart Phuket by truck…
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Phuket tunnel project to begin in 2013: Patong Mayor
PHUKET: Patong Mayor Pian Keesin told a crowd of supporters recently that he expects work on the Patong Tunnel Project to begin in 2013. Speaking at a “Patong Future Plan” public rally at Patong Sports Field on the beach road earlier this month, Mayor Pian presented his plans for easing problems that have arisen from the fast pace of development…
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Body of Russian tourist recovered off Phuket
PHUKET: Local fishermen have found what they believe to be the body of missing Russian tourist Alexey Agaponov, who went missing off Nai Thon Beach Monday afternoon. Phuket Marine Police Lt Jirayuth Onthong told the Gazette that local fisherman called in the gruesome discovery at 6:30pm yesterday. The body was found in a rocky area at Koh Krata, a small…
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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