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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Phuket police identify karaoke murder victim
PHUKET: Police this afternoon identified the body of the woman who was raped, murdered and abandoned in the hills just south of Patong. They told the Gazette the corpse was that of karaoke hostess Anicha Khaigunha, 21, from Khon Kaen. Her body was found about three kilometers from Sirirat Rd, halfway between Patong and Karon, by waterworks contractor Ong-ard Kongkaew,…
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SUCCESS: Phuket sea gypsies salvage oil carrier
PHUKET: A team of sea gypsy divers have successfully re-floated and towed ashore the Choke Taworn 6, which sunk in heavy seas off Phuket earlier this month with an estimated 25,000 liters of diesel fuel aboard. The team, led by Surin Pramongkij, successfully brought the vessel to the surface at 11am. The boat was then towed by its sister vessel…
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‘Run4Rino Charity Run’ in Phuket next month
PHUKET: Runners of all ages from around Phuket are coming together to help young Rino Mangon Vogt, who is bravely battling a rare cardiac condition and urgently needs heart surgery. Participants in the “Run4Rino Charity Run” at Nai Harn Lake on October 17 will each set a target number of laps to run around the 2.1-kilometer circuit. Before the run…
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Phuket sea gypsies perform turtle exorcism ritual
PHUKET: Sea gypsies in Rawai held an exorcism ceremony on Mai Thon Island recently to seek forgiveness from their guardian spirit. They were hoping to appease spirit Balai Da Toe after two fellow sea gypsies died from food poisoning in June after eating Hawksbill turtle meat. Many others fell seriously ill, but survived the meal. The late-August ceremony, involving the…
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“Passion for Fashion” show raises money for Phuket charity
PHUKET: Over 250 Phuket locals and tourists raised a whopping 250,000 baht for underprivileged children at the Andara Resort & Villa’s “Passion for Fashion” charity fashion show in Kamala on Sunday afternoon. Resort General Manager Andrew Whitaker said the event was a “win, win” for all involved, with 100% of proceeds from all tickets going to a worthy cause. The…
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Phuket siren song: DDPM chief says “pump up the volume’
PHUKET: The head of Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) pronounced this morning’s tsunami evacuation drill in Patong an overall success, but said he would call for an increase in the volume of the “siren song” from the Soi Bangla tower so that it can be better heard in windy conditions. More than 1,000 people, mostly students from…
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Bt3.8m toilets completed at Phuket’s Laem Phromthep
PHUKET: A new restroom costing 3.8 million baht at Phuket’s landmark tourist attraction Laem Phromthep is now complete, but not yet ready for business. The men’s toilets feature six cubicles and eight urinals, while women’s facilities are served through 11 separate chambers. A ceremony to mark the transfer of the new toilets from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports’ Office…
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Call for action over illegal Burmese workers in Phuket
PHUKET: The Phuket Chamber of Commerce (PCC) is demanding that action be taken to deal with the the large and growing population of Burmese in Phuket. Dr Sirichai Silapa-archa, chairman of the PCC and also a deputy director at Vachira Phuket Hospital, told the Gazette that the number of newborns at Vachira alone ranges from about 60 to 100 a…
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Phuket convention center should open mid-2014
PHUKET: Work on a world-class conference and exhibition center for Phuket should begin next year and be ready to open by mid-2014, project consultants told two recent public hearings. The meetings about the proposed Phuket International Convention and Exhibition Center (Phuket-ICEC), planned for the island’s northern tip, met with no serious opposition, but some concerns over environmental impact and infrastructure…
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Thai attitude to foreign labor needs urgent fix
BANGKOK: If Thailand is to move forward as a nation, we have a moral obligation to be fair. In what is billed as the largest human-trafficking case ever brought by the US federal government, six contractors have been accused of a scheme to hold 400 Thai workers in virtual slavery on farms in Hawaii and Washington State. Global Horizons Manpower…
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Phuket Surf Lifesaving Carnival a hit with tourists
PHUKET: The Surf Lifesaving Carnival was in full swing today as spectators, bands, surfers and VIPs gathered on Patong Beach for some fun in the sun. The event, organized by the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization and sponsored by the Phuket Gazette, began at 9am with competitive events with age categories ranging from under 15s to over 50s. Among the numerous…
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Phuket primed for tsunami warning drill
PHUKET: The National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) has confirmed the precise times the NDWC will sound the tsunami warning towers in the six Andaman provinces, including Phuket, during the full-scale evacuation drill on Monday. Dr Somsak Khaosuwan, director of the NDWC’s warning system management team, this morning told the Gazette that the tsunami warning towers will sound at four times:…
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Phuket to host ‘Alternative Ownership’ conference
PHUKET: Some 150 delegates are expected to descend on Phuket next month for the second Alternative Ownership Conference for Resorts and Hotels – Asia Pacific (AOCAP) at the Millennium Resort in Patong. “Following the success of the inaugural AOCAP conference in 2009, we are excited to announce AOCAP 2010 will take place 10-12 October in Phuket,” said Bryan Lunt, Chairman…
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U-turn scheme planned to solve Phuket bus woes
PHUKET: Hopes are being pinned on a novel approach to traffic control to solve the problem of how cross-country buses will head north after departing Phuket’s new provincial bus terminal on Thepkrasattri Rd southbound in Rassada. How buses will head north is one of two crucial issues facing the new terminal, which has been sitting idle since its completion in…
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Tsunam drill puts Phuket students on alert
PHUKET: Some 350 primary school students in Patong ran for higher ground today in a tsunami drill organized by the Phuket office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket). At 1pm yesterday, the students at Baan Sainamyen School in Patong were split into two groups and educated about tsunamis by DDPM-Phuket officer Thanakuan Pinthong. After the information session,…
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Diesel salvage mission off Phuket still on hold
PHUKET: Efforts to salvage the sunken Choke Thaworn 6 and its cargo of some 25,000 liters of diesel fuel remain on hold today due to big waves and strong currents. Members of the media were yesterday taken aboard a Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) vessel to the site, 12 nautical miles off Phuket’s southwest coast. At the site…
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Phuket mulls Muslim prayer hall for Laem Phromthep
PHUKET: Phuket’s Laem Promthep may soon have a Muslim prayer hall (surau), says Rawai Mayor Aroon Solos. The mayor has confirmed that Rawai Municipality is considering plans to build such a facility on the iconic peninsula at the southernmost tip of Phuket island. The surau, if built, is to provide a place for the Muslim faithful to perform prayers while…
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Corpse confusion: mix-up in Phuket morgue
PHUKET: Mourners at the funeral of a British man in Chalong were shocked to discover that the corpse handed over to them by staff at Vachira Phuket Hospital was not his, but that of an unidentified Westerner. William John “Bill” Young, 61, of Ipswich, England, passed away in his sleep on Friday, September 3, a friend told the Gazette. Friends…
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Construction of new Phuket incinerator underway
PHUKET: Work to build Phuket’s second incinerator at Saphan Hin is underway and the 940-million-baht facility should be completed by the end of the year, a provincial committee on trash management issues was told on Wednesday. Prachoom Suriya, who heads the Phuket City Municipality Environmental Division, told the Phuket Provincial Trash Management Committee that project contractor PJT Technology is now…
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Lifeguard expert in Phuket calls for new rescue equipment
PHUKET: Ahead of the Phuket Surf Life Saving Carnival in Patong this Saturday, an expert surf lifesaving trainer from Australia has called for Phuket lifeguards to introduce different equipment to help them save lives at Phuket beaches. David Field, an assessor with Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) with 20 years’ experience in lifesaving, has called for Phuket lifeguards to use…
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Phuket students to be punished for not wearing helmets
PHUKET: Staff and students of Prince of Songkla University (PSU) Phuket campus are now liable to punishment by the university if they are caught traveling by motorbike without a helmet. The new provisions were introduced by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at the PSU campus in Kathu on September 1. With some 200 students present as witnesses,…
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Suthep confirms possible assassination attempt rumor
The National News Bureau of Thailand this afternoon reports that Deputy Prime Minister for Security Affairs Suthep Thaugsuban admits there are reports of possible assassination attempts on important figures, but no reports of such attempts to occur during the upcoming red-shirt rallies on 19 September. Deputy Prime Minister Suthep said he has instructed the police to tighten security, although there…
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Global scorching; Thai Banks also scorched; Tales of two TATs
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Scorching forecast for Thailand PHUKET: In the next 35 years, the temperature in Thailand will rise a whopping 3 to 4 degrees Celsius, which will result in the eastern provinces being inundated in 300 millimetres of rainfall…
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Diesel salvage mission off Phuket resumes today
PHUKET: The mission to raise the sunken Choke Taworn 6 and its cargo of diesel fuel was postponed yesterday due to rough sea conditions. The effort will resume at 10am today, weather permitting. Rear Admiral Nawin Thananet, Chief of Staff of the Royal Thai Navy’s Third Area Command, said yesterday that visual inspection of the diesel tanks by divers revealed…
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Water service finally restored in Kathu, Phuket
PHUKET: Residents in parts of Phuket’s Kathu District are angry with local authorities because their water supply, cut off on Monday, was only restored this afternoon. Residents of the Baan Neua and Moo Baan Pak Dee communities, off Wichit Songkraam Road, contacted the Gazette at 10am to complain about the shortage, which forced students to go off to school without…
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Phuket barber found dead inside shop
PHUKET: Thalang Police think a barber found dead in his shop in Pa Khlok yesterday afternoon died of natural causes at least five days earlier. Thalang Police duty inspector Seksan Komsakorn identified the remains as those of 44-year-old Pira Ruengsamut, a Ranong native who had operated the shop in Ban Ao Por for many years. Thalang Police arrived at the…
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Phuket sails in China; Phuket air lift; Reliable police?
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Team Phuket to sail in China PHUKET: The Nation reports that ‘Team Phuket King’s Cup Regatta’ has entered the China Cup International Regatta, to take place in Daya Bay, Shenzhen, China from October 29 to November 1.…
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New Phuket Town market finally opens for business
PHUKET: The new market on Ranong Road finally opened for business on Sunday, despite the refusal by a handful of holdout vendors to sign the contracts and occupy stalls they are entitled to. On the ground floor are stalls selling fresh meat, seafood and dry foods. Below, in the basement level, are small restaurants and vendors selling fresh fruit and…
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Another meth dealer busted in Phuket
PHUKET: The Kathu Narcotics Suppression Unit arrested a Bangkok-based drug dealer in Phuket Town on Monday morning, seizing almost 3,000 ya bah (methamphetamine) pills and a Mercedes-Benz as evidence. It was the third drug arrest for the suspect, who was only recently released from jail The arrest was announced at 1pm the same day by Kathu District Chief Siriphat Phathakul.…
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Choke Thavorn 6 salvage to begin off Phuket today
PHUKET: Efforts to salvage sunken transport vessel Choke Thavorn 6 are scheduled to begin at about 4pm today, weather permitting. Rear Admiral Nawin Thananet, Chief of Staff of the Royal Thai Navy’s Third Area Command, said the salvage effort will be conducted by the vessel’s owner and the Harbormaster Department. “We will just observe the operation and help them if…
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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