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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More counterfeit goods seized
PATONG: Acting on a tipoff, a Kathu Police special investigation unit on May 16 raided a storeroom at the OTOP Market on Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd, seizing counterfeit goods valued at an estimated two million baht and arresting a young Burmese woman.Kathu Police Inspector Lt Col Serm Kwannimit, who led the raid at about 5 pm, said a 24-year-old Burmese…
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Mobile phone ban nets six on first day
PHUKET: Up until 5 pm today, the first day of the ban on driving while using a mobile phone without a hands-free set, Phuket Traffic Police fined six motorists.Phuket Provincial Police Deputy Commander Col Chalit Thintanee told the Gazette that three car drivers and two motorcycle riders were fined in Phuket City and one car driver was fined in Thalang.“In Phuket…
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Suspect in Patong 7-Eleven shooting surrenders to police
PATONG: After meeting Patong Mayor Pian Keesin, the prime suspect in the shooting murder of a motorcycle-taxi driver in a 7-Eleven store handed himself in to police on Sunday night.The suspect, Chainart Yuyen, 31, has denied any involvement in the murder.About 2 am on Friday, motorcycle-taxi driver Satien Wongwai, 35, was shot twice in the back and once in the neck with…
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Four more elections to be held in Phuket
PHUKET: With the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) and Phuket City Municipality elections now decided, the Phuket Election Committee (PEC) is gearing up for four more local elections set to take place over the next three monthsIn a meeting with Phuket Governor Niran Kalyanamit on Thursday, PEC Director Supap Akkam said his agency is preparing for elections for the Karon, Patong…
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Jintana Plaza catches fire – again
PATONG: Jintana Plaza on Patong’s beach road caught fire early yesterday morning, causing an estimated one million baht in damage.It’s the third time this year that fire has broken out at the complex.Lt Naruwat Puthawiro said that Kathu Police Station received a call about 3:15 am reporting that a fire had broken out at the plaza.“The fire [reportedly] started about 3:15…
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Violent muggings return to Rawai
RAWAI: A foreign man was shot in the leg and stabbed in the stomach in a motorbike mugging at about 4 am on Monday. His attackers made off with his wallet, containing 300 baht.The attack was reminiscent of the spate of violent muggings that gripped the Rawai-Nai Harn area throughout the low season last year.The man, who asked to be identified only…
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Customs raids net B2.6m in fake goods
PHUKET: In a week of raids starting on May 7, Phuket Customs seized counterfeit and allegedly smuggled goods with a total estimated value of 2.6 million baht.Many of the seized goods were sent to Phuket by parcel delivery services, arriving on the island by bus from Bangkok.Pirated goods seized included music CDs, movie and game CDs and DVDs, D&G shoulder…
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1,267 ya bah pills seized in Mai Khao
MAI KHAO: Following a random vehicle inspection, Tah Chat Chai Police on Sunday night arrested three people for possession of ya bah (methamphetamine) with intent to sell and seized 1,267 pills.The arrests were announced at a press conference held Monday afternoon at Phuket City Police Station.Attending were Phuket Vice-Governor Worapot Rattasima, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Decha Budnampetch, Phuket…
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Smart ID cards available again
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit yesterday morning announced that “Smart ID cards” for Thai citizens are now available at Muang District Office – again.The new-style cards, which have a memory chip for storing personal data such as date of birth, physical description and even the holder’s house registration information, became unavailable in January last year when the local office…
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DSI reaches out to scammed rubber investors
PHUKET: The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has set up a desk at Phuket City Police Station to accept complaints from victims of an “investment company” thought to have defrauded some 5,000 southerners of more than 150 million baht.Thanin Prempri, head of the DSI Phuket investigation team, told the Gazette that Amorn-ake Petluechai and two associates of his Khon Kaen-based…
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Navy accepting donations for cyclone relief
CAPE PANWA: The Royal Thai Navy Third Naval Command at Cape Panwa is accepting donations of food and equipment to provide emergency relief for victims of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. Appropriate items for donation include florescent strip lights and fittings, corrugated iron, canvas and tarpaulin for tents, dried and canned food, rice and drinking water. The donations will be taken to…
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Young Turks win Phuket City election
PHUKET CITY: Incumbent Phuket City Mayor Somjai Suwannasuppana was re-elected by a comfortable margin on Sunday, garnering 10,657 votes (57.4%) vs just 7,910 (42.6%) votes for her rival Ayuth Tansiriroj, leader of the Chao Baan Sarng San (Creative Village People) party.In a remarkable outcome in voting for regular council seats, it was a clean sweep for members of Somjai’s Khon Noom…
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Phuket City elections on Sunday
PHUKET CITY: Despite intermittent downpours throughout the day, sound trucks carrying political hopefuls plied the streets of Phuket City today in a last-minute bid to drum up support for their candidates in the hotly-contested Phuket City Municipality election to be held on Sunday.The mayoral race pits incumbent Somjai Suwannasuppana of the Khon Noom (Young Turks) party against her former deputy…
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Thai AirAsia sets up Myanmar donation stations
BANGKOK: Thai AirAsia announced this afternoon that it is offering aid to cyclone victims in Myanmar by carrying public donations to Yangon. The airline has set up collection points in all the destinations it flies to, including Phuket. Tassapon Bijleveld, chief executive officer of Thai AirAsia, said that the airline wants to make sure that donations such as food, clothing,…
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Ao Phuket project given top-level green light
PHUKET: The government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has given the green light to the Ao Phuket development plan, a 100-billion-baht megaproject on 3,000 rai of reclaimed land that would include a convention center, marina and other facilities. The latest movement in the Ao Phuket plan, first conceived over two decades ago, follows from PM Samak’s assigning responsibility for the…
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Police hunt suspected tsunami coffin thieves
PHANG NGA (Kom Chad Luek): Takuapa District Police are on the lookout for two former cemetery workers who confessed to stealing 11 70-kilogram coffins worth an estimated 400,000 baht from a storage facility at Bang Maruan Cemetery. Cemetery manager Nitinai Sornsongkram, 54, filed a report with Takuapa Police on April 27 after discovering that 11 of 40 coffins, which were…
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Burmese junta stalls aid workers
BANGKOK (Nation/Agencies): With the death toll estimated at more than 100,000 and even more people stricken homeless by Cyclone Nargis, survivors still await emergency supplies while the United Nations waits for the military junta in Myanmar to allow international workers to start relief operations.Aid officials said they are waiting for the military to approve entry visas. “We are in close…
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Myanmar relief efforts underway
BANGKOK: With the death toll in Myanmar now feared to be more than 100,000, a number of aid organizations have started relief efforts in the hardest-hit areas. World Vision is reporting that it is already providing clothing as well as tarpaulins, blankets, rice and drinking water in the capital, Yangon. As of yesterday, World Vision had delivered 34.8 metric tons…
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Plodprasop flames NDWC’s effectiveness
CAPE PANWA: Dr Plodprasop Surasawadee, assistant minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, today likened the status of Thailand’s National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) to that of an “abandoned toilet”.His scathing remark was made at the opening of a three-day convention on coral reef research and management at the Phuket Aquarium.As a former director of the NDWC, he said he would…
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Police chief warns drivers of cellphone ban
PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Police Chief Maj Gen Decha Budnampetch today warned motorists that they have until May 19 to break the habit of talking on a mobile phone without using a hands-free set while driving – or face being fined.Although the new law comes into effect tomorrow, Gen Decha said that local police will not fine motorists for breaking the…
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Construction site extortion gang busted
PATONG: In the latest case of extortion involving Burmese workers, Kathu Police on Saturday afternoon arrested five men posing as government officers in a bid to extort money from a construction company.Kathu Police Superintendent Col Grissak Songmoonnark told the Gazette that Kathu Police were informed of the extortion bid by construction foreman Somyot Chairat, who was overseeing a project off…
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Phuket braces for stormy weather
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) has warned of the risk of landslides, flooding and strong seas in Phuket due to Cyclone Nargis.Myanmar state television earlier today reported that Cyclone Nargis had claimed 21,793 lives and that 40,695 people were missing in Irrawaddy division alone.DDPM-Phuket Chief Chotenarin Kerdsom said that waves have…
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Newborn found in hospital car park
PHUKET CITY: A newborn boy was discovered yesterday morning in the back of a pickup truck in the car park of Bangkok Hospital Phuket. Doctors believe he had been abandoned the night before. Dr Nat Tantipipat of Bangkok Hospital Phuket discovered the baby, wrapped in a towel and a blanket and placed in a red basket in the back of…
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Dead turtle highlights endangered species’ plight
PHUKET (TNA, Gazette): The discovery of a dead Olive Ridley turtle in front of the West Sands Resort on Mai Khao Beach on March 17 has again raised the issue of coastal development depleting endangered turtles’ natural breeding grounds.The Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) at Cape Panwa was alerted to the discovery by the Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation.Sontaya Manawatthana…
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Aussie airlifted from Similans
PHUKET CITY: An Australian man is recovering at Vachira Phuket Hospital after being airlifted to Phuket from the Similan Islands by the Royal Thai Navy this afternoon.Rear-Admiral Supot Pruksa of the Third Naval Area Command, based at Cape Panwa, identified the man as Gregory Edwin Orior, 51.The Navy base received an emergency call this morning from the Navy outpost at…
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Investigation launched into “stolen’ tsunami victims’ coffins
PHANG NGA (Kom Chad Luek): Grave robbery has taken on a disturbing new form in Takuapa, where 11 aluminum coffins intended for tsunami victims were recently reported missing from a storage facility at Bang Maruan Cemetery.In mid-April, cemetery manager Nitinai Sornsongkram, who is responsible for inventory of tsunami victims’ remains and government property at the cemetery, noticed that 11 of…
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Kowsurat, celebrities to host aircraft reef festivities
LAYAN BEACH: Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat and several Thai TV celebrities on Monday will lead activities to mark the sinking of 10 decommissioned military aircraft to form an artificial reef.Although sinking of the aircraft began today, Monday was chosen as the final day because it is Coronation Day, a public holiday marking HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s ascension to…
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Hotel owner dies in paramotor accident
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT (The Nation): Suwit Kitkamchai, owner of the Patong Pearl Resortel on Sawasdirak Rd in Patong, died on Wednesday when his paramotor rig plunged into the sea during a test flight off the coast of Nakhon Sri Thammarat. He was 53.The death was reported to Nakhon Sri Thammarat police Inspector Lt Col Boonchern Choosuehung by staff at Maharaj Hospital,…
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Fire destroys Patong shops
PATONG: Firefighters took more than an hour to extinguish a fire that broke out in Jintana Plaza, opposite the Immigration office on the Patong beach road, early Wednesday morning.Lt Naruewat Putthaviro of Kathu Police Station told the Gazette that the fire started before 4 am.“When I arrived there, the fire had already destroyed a large area. We used four fire…
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Bogus cop busted in extortion case
CHALONG: In the second crime of its type reported in less than a month, police arrested a Thai man for impersonating a police officer in a bid to extort money from a construction project employing unregistered Burmese workers.Capt Arthid Sue-sattabongkot of Phuket Provincial Special Branch (Santiban) Police told the Gazette that construction foreman Santi Nasang, who is overseeing a project…
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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