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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Sponsored A healthy tomorrow starts today: Celebrate the great American Smokeout day
The Great American Smokeout, held this year on November 17, is a nationwide event that encourages smokers to take their first steps towards a smoke-free life. If you’re an expat in Thailand, this day could be a timely reminder to...
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Phuket City students glimpse eclipse
RASSADA, PHUKET: Despite overcast conditions, students who turned up to view the partial solar eclipse this morning at Rajabhat Phuket University did not go away completely disappointed. “Today we had a lot of clouds, but fortunately we were able to observe the eclipse for about 5 minutes at around 8am,” said Prof Sukchai Petchuay, Assistant Dean of Rajabhat University Phuket.…
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Temporary ICU for Asean talks in Phuket
CHERNG TALAY, PHUKET: Emergency medical facilities including a temporary intensive care unit (ICU) are in place at Laguna Phuket in case any delegates at the Asean Ministerial Meetings fall seriously ill during the talks. Three medical aid points have been set up specifically for such an event. The most well equipped is ‘Medical Center 1201’, located inside host venue the…
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Phuket gangs shoot it out in Patong
PATONG, PHUKET: Tourists ran for their lives when a gunfight erupted between two gangs on the Patong beachfront today. One man was killed and three injured in the Patong shootout.Bystanders said two gangs of Thai men began shooting at each other on the site of the burned out Jintana shopping center on the Patong beach road in the early afternoon.One witness said a…
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New Phuket City market to open by year’s end
PHUKET CITY: Structural work on the new municipal market on Ranong Road is complete, but the 167-million-baht facility probably won’t be open for business until the end of the year. Phuket City Mayor Somjai Suwansupana said the four-story market building and the 27 shophouse units surrounding it were finished, but interior work would probably take several months to plan and…
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Phuket Red Cross blood donation schedule
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Chapter of the Red Cross Society has arranged for its mobile unit to accept blood donations at the following places and times in Phuket and Krabi in August.August 1 (8am to 12 noon): HM Queen Sirikit Park, Thalang Rd, Phuket CityAugust 3 (9am to 5pm): Bangkok Hospital Phuket, Phuket CityAugust 4 (9am to 12 noon): Krabi…
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Clubbers survive brutal beating in Phuket
CHERNG TALAY, PHUKET: Two people have been hospitalized after a brutal attack in the early hours of Saturday.Narissa Phokabut, 28, and her 30-year-old English friend, were leaving the Stereo Lab nightclub before dawn on Saturday when they were attacked by two Thai men.Yards away, revelers were still partying at the Hed Kandi night, an event put on by the popular…
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Thai PM opens Asean meeting in Phuket
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his entourage arrived in Phuket this morning for the 42nd Asean Ministerial Meeting (AMM) and related meetings that got underway at the Laguna Phuket resort on Friday. Among those on hand to greet PM Abhisit at the Phuket International Airport VIP room at 8.30am were national police chief Gen Patcharawat Wongsuwan,…
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Phuket residents decidedly calm in run-up to Asean
PHUKET CITY: Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan yesterday told the international community that the upcoming meetings of Asean foreign ministers and dialogue partners would be secure. “I want to assure you all that the security arrangements are superb and the meetings will proceed without disruption,” he said. In April, anti-government protesters stormed into the Asean Summit’s venue in Pattaya, forcing the…
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EC seeks to disqualify Phuket MP, 12 others
PHUKET CITY: Party list MP Chalermlak Kebsup of Phuket is among 13 MPs the Election Commission is seeking to have removed from office for holding shares in a restricted business. The Election Commission (EC) yesterday ruled that 13 MPs, all from the ruling Democrat Party, had violated the Constitution by holding stocks in media firms or telecom businesses operating under…
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Phuket plant fair starts next week
PHUKET CITY: Green thumbs take note: the 17th Annual Ornamental Plants & Flowers Fair will take place at Saphan Hin from July 24 to August 2. Somchai Hengwatcharaphaibul, chief of the Phuket Agriculture and Cooperatives Office, said he expects this year’s event to generate about 40 million baht in sales. The fair will include exhibitions, displays, competitions in flower arrangement…
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Readers’ Poll: More buses best solution to Phuket’s transport woes
PHUKET CITY: Gazette readers think an expanded public bus network is the single best solution to Phuket’s transport woes, last month’s readers’ poll has determined. Over 400 readers cast votes in the poll, which is now closed. We asked readers to tell us what they thought was the single best solution to Phuket’s transport problems. The most popular solution, with…
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Phuket still safe despite Jakarta bombings
PHUKET: The bomb blasts which shattered Jakarta’s Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott Hotels this morning, killing at least nine people and injuring dozens more, have sent the topic of terrorism rocketing to the top of the agenda at the 42nd Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting which got underway in Phuket today. Asean Secretary General Dr Surin Pitsuwan said officials and delegates were…
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New police HQ spells trouble for Mai Khao villagers
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: Twenty families in Mai Khao have signed a petition vowing to fight an order to vacate government land earmarked for construction of the new Police Region 8 headquarters, scheduled to open in 2011. Plans to move the existing Region 8 headquarters from Surat Thani province to Phuket were set in motion in 2007. Krabi, Nakhon Sri Thammarat,…
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Dasta holds public hearings in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: The public organization pushing to develop the Ao Phuket mega-project off Saphan Hin is conducting public hearings to gauge reaction to the possibility of designating all of Phuket as a special administrative zone for sustainable tourism. Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Dasta), a public organization whose board answers directly to the Prime Minister’s Office, held the first…
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Phuket abuzz with pride and wonder about ASEAN event
PHUKET: Phuket has begun pulsing with vibrancy today. Official cars, police and army officers, and security guards are becoming a common sight. It’s all about the ASEAN foreign ministers meetings and the ASEAN Regional Forum, to be held at Laguna Phuket from Friday to July 23. Phuketians generally welcome the massive security effort, despite all the checkpoints and limitations on…
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Swine flu “service centers” open in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: There have been 77 confirmed cases of A(H1N1) infection in Phuket since the swine flu outbreak first hit the island in early June, the Gazette has learned. To combat the spread of the new flu strain, the Phuket Public Health Office (PPHO) has launched three “One Stop Service” (OSS) centers for suspected swine flu cases at Phuket’s three…
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Inmates spruce up Phuket roadsides for ministers’ meeting
PHUKET: The Phuket governor called in Phuket Provincial Prison inmates to help clean up and landscape the Airport Road that delegates to the 42nd Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting will pass on their way to the host venue Laguna Phuket.The order followed an inspection tour of the road on Friday during which Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop found the median strip and roadsides…
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Foundered ferry under tow to Phuket
PHUKET CITY: Salvage workers are today trying to tow back to Phuket the unregistered passenger ferry that foundered in heavy seas in Phang Nga Bay over the weekend. Phuket Marine Police on Sunday morning rescued the captain and crew of the unregistered ferry Kacha Marine, which sank during a sea squall near the Mu Sung Rocks about seven miles off…
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Burmese government to open ID centers for illegals
PHUKET CITY: In an effort to legalize untold thousands of its citizens working illegally in Thailand, the Burmese government will tomorrow open ‘citizen identification centers’ at three immigration checkpoints along the Thai border. The announcement came at a seminar at the Thavorn Grand Plaza Hotel on Saturday attended by Burmese Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister U Maung Myaint, Thai Labor Minister…
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Phuket storm warnings
PHUKET CITY: The Meteorological Department has issued a weather warning as the Andaman region continues to be battered by heavy rain and strong winds.The warning said strong southwest monsoonal conditions continue to affect the Andaman Sea and southwest coast of southern Thailand.Rain, very heavy at times, continues in most west coast areas.As there is a risk of flash-flooding and landslides,…
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Phuket to get new 378 million baht bridge
PHUKET: The Sarasin Bridge, which joins Phuket to the mainland, is to be dismantled and replaced by a new four-lane structure in a construction project worth 378 million baht. Italian-Thai Development (ITD) said it signed the contract to carry out the New Sarasin Bridge Project with the Department of Highways, Ministry of Transport and Communications, late last month. The work, which is…
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Outta here! Phuket red shirts off to Chiang Mai during Asean meetings
PHUKET CITY: Even as military troops and hardware deploy in Thalang, the leaders of Phuket’s small ‘red-shirt’ movement say they have no plans to disrupt the Asean-led meetings set to begin in Cherng Talay a week from today.In fact, they plan to be in Chiang Mai for a meeting of their own while the talks are on, their leader says.Phuket…
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Photo Walk in Phuket on Saturday
PHUKET CITY: Calling all photographers: you are invited to join tens of thousands of snappers across the globe for a worldwide ‘photo walk’ next Saturday. Phuket City is one of 915 locations around the world in which groups of photographers will spend two hours walking the streets, talking about the art of photography and, of course, taking pictures. The Scott Kelby…
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Internal Security Act now in force in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: The controversial Internal Security Act to ensure there is no disruption at the upcoming 42nd Asean Ministers Meeting is now in force, but very few locals will have noticed any difference. Military hardware, much of it on flatbed trucks, rolled onto the island yesterday afternoon. Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, who is in charge of security during the meetings,…
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PSU Phuket closed for two-day cleaning after swine flu death
KATHU, PHUKET: The Prince of Songkla University (PSU) Phuket campus has closed for a ‘big cleaning’ following the death of a 19-year-old student from swine flu complications last week. The cleanup effort will target 1,500 university dorm rooms as well as common areas. Speaking at a press conference at the Phuket Public Health Office on Thursday afternoon, PSU Phuket Assistant…
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Asean meetings: Thai Army rolls onto Phuket
PHUKET: Troops and military hardware began arriving in Phuket today in preparation for the 42nd Asean Ministers Meetings at Laguna Phuket later this month. The convoy of equipment, including flatbed trailers carrying armored vehicles, troop transport trucks and four-wheel drive vehicles, rolled onto the island over the Thao Thepkrasattri Bridge at about 3pm. Military personnel waved on passing traffic after…
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Patong gears up for high season
PATONG, PHUKET: Patong Municipality will spend five million baht filling in the potholes on the unfinished Phang Muang Road that runs behind Jungceylon. Patong Mayor Pian Keesin said he hopes the work will be completed in time for the upcoming high season. The total price tag for the Phang Muang Road project, which requires completion of a three- to four-…
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Woman killed by truck in Phuket
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: A young woman died instantly on Tuesday afternoon when a pickup truck slammed into her motorbike as she tried to cross the busy Thepkrasattri Road. Sirintip Jongjalern, 26, was on her way home from work at Blue Canyon Country Club (BCCC) when she pulled onto Thepkrasattri Road in Thalang and into the path of a fast-moving Toyota…
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Phuket Governor marks Asarnha Bucha Day
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop this morning attended a Buddhist merit-making ceremony at Wichit Sankharaam Temple on Suthat Road. The ceremony was held to mark Asarnha Bucha Day, which commemorates the Lord Buddha’s first sermon. The governor and about 500 others took part in the traditional ceremony, which involves circling a chedi at the temple three times before placing…
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Fish die mysteriously in Phuket City
PHUKET CITY: Local people were surprised to find large numbers of dead fish floating in the pond in front of Prince of Songkla University’s Saphan Hin campus yesterday morning. When officials from Phuket City Municipality went to investigate, they found excited residents pulling dead grouper, red snapper and sea mullet from the water. While locals bagged fish with dinner in…
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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