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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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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Phuket goes on landslide alert
PHUKET CITY: As heavy rains continue to dowse the island, the Phuket office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) has issued a landslide warning, effective until at least tomorrow.“We have received good feedback from all 18 local administration organizations in Phuket. We have officers on 24-hour standby, manning phones and radios, ready to deal with any problems,”…
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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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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 Senators not short of spare change
BANGKOK: Phuket Senator Thanyarat Atchariyachai and her husband K. Pamuke have combined assets totaling just under 1.7 billion baht, according to asset declaration statements posted by the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) on its website on May 8.K. Thanyarat declared assets totaling more than 684 million baht, while her husband K. Pamuke, managing director of the Kata Group, declared assets…
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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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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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Tour guide, 31, dies of “heart attack’
RASSADA: Police have cited heart failure as the probable cause of death of a man found dead in his Rassada apartment on May 2.Phuket City Police duty officer Lt Salan Reedeng said his station was alerted after security staff at Building 3 of the Rassada National Housing Authority apartment complex reported a foul odor coming from a fifth-floor apartment.Arriving about…
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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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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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Eight nabbed in Cherng Talay drug-ring bust
PHUKET: Cherng Talay Police have arrested eight people on drugs charges, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Decha Budnampeth announced yesterday. Cherng Talay Police arrested Prasit Waharak, 31, from Phang Nga, in possession of ya bah (methamphetamine) in a sting operation at the Bang Tao weekend market, he explained. After questioning Prasit, the officers arrested Thanongsak Phromdech, 32, from Nakhon…
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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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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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Coral Reef Squadron red-flagged
PHUKET CITY: The sinking of 10 decommissioned military aircraft – nicknamed the Coral Reef Squadron – to create Thailand’s largest artificial reef has been postponed until November, Tourism Authority of Thailand South Region 4 Office Director Suwalai Pinpradub announced today.Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, K. Suwalai said that the strong winds and large waves that have arrived with…
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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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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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Job Fair marks Labor Day
SAPAN HIN: Hundreds of people turned out to apply for jobs yesterday morning at a job fair to mark International Labor Day.The fair was organized by the Governor’s Office and the Phuket Provincial Employment Service Office.More than 30 companies sent representatives to meet job seekers, who perused noticeboards advertising more than 1,000 job vacancies in Phuket and Phang Nga.Many of…
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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…
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Digital Gazette enters ‘fast lane’
PHUKET: Readers of the Digital Gazette may now enjoy far greater download and handling speeds as the result of enhancements to the system used in delivering the product. The publishers announced this morning that it is no longer necessary to use the Digital Gazette Browser. Existing subscribers can simply delete (“uninstall”) it. Sign-up, download and file response speeds have been…
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Speedboat pirates raid Thai tanker
CAPE PANWA: A fuel tanker on its way to Phuket was boarded by six masked men in the Singapore Strait early Friday morning, the pirates making off with more than half-a-million baht in goods stolen from the vessel and its crew.News of the incident was reported to the Phuket City Police soon after the tanker, Patara Varin 2, reached the…
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Phuket girl wins national TV talent quest
PHUKET: Phuket teenager Wichayanee “Nong Kam” Peagrin last night became the first female contestant to win The Star contest, the wildly popular Thai TV equivalent of American Idol.The final round of competition, televised nationally on Channel 9, was held last night at the full-to-capacity Hua Mark Indoor Stadium in Bangkok.The final pitted the dimple-faced Nong Kam, 19, against fellow finalist Supparuj…
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Thai PM says Phuket needs urgent “rehabilitation’
BANGKOK (The Nation): Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said on his weekly Sunday morning radio show yesterday that Phuket needs urgent “rehabilitation” and development projects.The prime minister said he had received direct complaints from local businessmen that the central government had not done enough to “rehabilitate” the province, which has been “exploited” for tourism.The prime minister said he would soon hold a meeting…
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Two held in death of Vietnamese woman
PATONG: After handing themselves in to Kathu Police on Monday, two Thai men are being held at Phuket Provincial Prison on charges of “causing death during an affray” of a Vietnamese woman whose body was discovered lying in a klong last week.Kathu Police Superintendent Col Grissak Songmoonnak told the Gazette that the men allegedly confessed to killing 37-year-old Tran Thi Mung,…
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New OrBorJor council awaits approval
PHUKET CITY: Unconfirmed results from last Sunday’s Phuket Administration Organization (OrBorJor) elections saw the upstart Khon Baan Rao party, led by former senator Paiboon Upatising, sweep into power by winning seats in 16 of 24 voting precincts in Phuket.Seven candidates running under the Democrat Party banner also won seats, along with one independent candidate. All of the following official results…
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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