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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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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Massive facelift planned for Saphan Hin
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) has called on private investors to join it in developing an 80-rai plot of land at Saphan Hin into a new commercial complex to be called Saphan Hin Park.OrBorJor President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr explained to the Gazette that the organization owns the land at Saphan Hin stretching from the triangle at the Phuket Vocational…
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Ao Yon sailing club faces closure
AO YON: David Ratcliffe, Commodore of the Phuket Yacht Club, has called a special meeting of members this Sunday, starting at 2:30 pm, in the hope of staving off the club’s closure due to financial woes.Mr Ratcliffe explained in a email to members, “Your presence is urgently required. The subject of discussion will be the future of the Club. At…
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Two gas stations fined for cheating
PHUKET CITY (Kom Chad Luek): Following consumer complaints, two “low-cost” gas stations were fined 5,000 baht apiece by the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) for overcharging motorists by tampering with fuel pumps, or using pumps that were not operating to standard.On January 18, Supoj Petchsri, Chief of Weights and Measures at the Phuket Provincial Commerce Office, led a team of local…
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TAT to push THAI for more direct flights
LAGUNA PHUKET: Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Governor Juthamas Siriwan today stepped into the lions’ den – a room at the Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket filled with hoteliers and property industry figures.Many of them have in the past been less than impressed with the TAT’s support for the tourism industry in the tsunami-hit provinces, some vocally so.But K. Juthamas came…
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Spate of burglaries in Cherng Talay
CHERNG TALAY: Police are warning foreign residents with expensive homes to take greater security measures following a wave of burglaries that has seen some homes broken into as many as five times.Cherng Talay Police Deputy Superintendent Pol Lt Col Suwat Kaewphrom told the Gazette today that there had been continuing reports of burglaries, but that the incidence of the break-ins…
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Samui killers get death sentence
SURAT THANI: Wichai “Loh” Somkhaoyai, 24, and Bualoi Kosit, 23, the two men who confessed to raping and murdering 21-year-old Welsh student Katherine Horton on Koh Samui on the night of January 1, have been sentenced to death by the Surat Thani Provincial Court.At an earlier hearing on January 13, both pleaded guilty to rape-murder charges under sections 276 and 277 of…
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TAT predicts 5m visitors, B80b revenue in 2006
PHUKET: Occupancy rates at 4- and 5-star hotels have averaged about 80% since the tsunami anniversary and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is predicting that 5 million people will visit Phuket in 2006, generating some 80 billion baht in revenue. Speaking to the Gazette yesterday, Siripakorn Cheawsamoot, Assistant Director of TAT’s Region 4 Office in Phuket, described the occupancy…
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Gov urges action to avert water crisis
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura has urged the Phuket Irrigation Office (PIO) and the Phuket Waterworks Office (PWO) to ensure there is enough mains water to meet demand in 2006, when an expected five million tourists are expected to push dry-season supplies to the limit.Speaking at the monthly “Governor Meets the Press” conference at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday morning,…
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Amnesty slams death sentence call
BANGKOK (The Nation): Amnesty International Thailand (AIT) yesterday supported the mother of murdered British student Katherine Horton, who has said she does not want to see her daughter’s killers executed.The alleged killers, Bualoi Kosit, 23, and Wichai Somkhaoyai, 24, who are due to be sentenced tomorrow at Surat Thani Provincial Court, face the possibility of execution for raping and murdering…
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Blood supplies running low
PHUKET CITY: Stocks of O-type blood – both negative and positive – on the island have dropped to alarming levels, prompting Somchay Chodchasiri, President of the Phuket Blood Donor Club, based at Vachira Phuket Hospital, to put out an urgent call for more donors.“We have nearly run out of supplies in Phuket,” he told the Gazette today. “Operations are sometimes…
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Governor postpones stray dog round-up
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Provincial Livestock Office (PPLO) has postponed indefinitely its plan to round up hundreds of stray dogs at island beaches and hold them at the Mid Road Dog Shelter in Thalang.At a meeting chaired by Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura at Phuket Provincial Hall on January 13, the Governor called for better co-operation among government agencies and the…
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Victim’s mother “does not want killers executed’
CARDIFF, UK: The mother of Katherine Horton, raped and murdered on a beach on Koh Samui on New Year’s Day, does not want her daughter’s killers to be executed, a British newspaper has reported.The News of the World quoted Elizabeth Horton as saying that Bualoi Kosit, 23, and Wichai Somkhaoyai, 24, should instead spend the rest of their lives behind…
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Horton killers to be sentenced Wednesday
SURAT THANI: Wichai “Loh” Somkhaoyai, 24, and Bualoi Kosit, 23, the two men accused of raping and murdering 21-year-old Welsh student Katherine Horton on Koh Samui on the night of January 1, appeared in court here today. Both pleaded guilty to rape-murder charges under sections 276 and 277 of the Thai Penal Code, which stipulates either life imprisonment or the…
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B253m budget approved for Phuket tourism
PHUKET: The Cabinet has allocated a 253-million-baht budget to Phuket for the development of tourism in 2006, the Governor’s Office announced yesterday.Krabi received 284 million baht and Phang Nga 252 million for the same purpose.Phuket had proposed several projects requiring additional funding that were turned down by the central government, including two major efforts: burying power cables along the beachfront…
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Dog unearths dead baby
PHUKET CITY: A stray dog dug up the body of a baby boy next to the tsunami warning tower at Saphan Hin on January 11.Pol Lt Col Yongyuth Klongmalai, Inspector at Phuket City Police Station, told the Gazette that he received a phone call from a jogger at Saphan Hin saying that a beach cleaner had stopped her to say…
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MoI to consider Thai nationality for 2,000 people
PHUKET: The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has set a deadline of January 20 for Governors of tsunami-affected provinces to submit applications for Thai nationality from an estimated 2,180 people who may qualify for nationality but who have not yet applied.The estimate was arrived at after research conducted by local officials in June last year, as part of a drive to…
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Monorail project would cost B20bn – consultant
PHUKET: A consultant to the Phuket Provincial Government said today that his company estimates that a proposed monorail light rail transit (LRT) system linking Phuket International Airport and Phuket City would cost 20 billion baht.Krai Tungsanga, President of Pyramid Development International Co (PDI), explained that a feasibility study into the LRT proposal began in October last year and will continue…
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Horton killers “had watched porn movie’
KOH SAMUI (The Nation, Phuket Gazette): The two fishermen who have confessed to raping and killing 21-year-old Welsh student Katherine Horton were drunk and had been watching a pornographic movie before swimming ashore to find a victim, the Deputy Police Commissioner, Region 8, Pol Maj Gen Santhan Chayanon, said yesterday.“They said they intended to find a woman to have sex…
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Thai fishermen confess to Horton murder
KOH SAMUI: Two young Thai fishermen whose DNA matched that of semen samples taken from the body of murdered tourist Katherine Horton have confessed to raping and murdering her, police said today.Ms Horton, a 21-year-old student from Wales, arrived on Samui with a fellow student on December 31, in time to celebrate New Year’s Eve there.She was last seen going…
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OrBorJor office broken into
PHUKET: The Division of Finance at the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) building was broken into over the weekend.Wannee Supradit, Director of the Division of Finance, told the Gazette that some OrBorJor officers work during weekends and that, on Sunday, she went to work earlier than usual because of a heavy workload.She said she noticed nothing untoward until a fellow…
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Swiss man arrested on pedophilia charges
PHANG NGA (The Nation): A 53-year-old Swiss national, Bernhard Rudolf Hager, has been arrested and charged with pedophilia and illegal detention of three underage Thai boys, police said yesterday.The arrest came after the US Federal Bureau of Investigation provided Thai police with a photo taken from the Internet, which showed a foreigner molesting young Thai boys, police said.In the photo,…
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Enough water for high season, say officials
PHUKET: Rain over the past few weeks has boosted the volume of water in the Bang Wad reservoir to 5.5 million cubic meters, which is enough to meet expected demand until the end of May, water officials believe.Isara Anukul, Chief of the Water Allocation Division of the Phuket Irrigation Office (PIO), noted, “Normally the rainy season arrives at the beginning…
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Mea culpa, says highways chief
PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Highways Office (PPHO) Chief Thanit Sakiya has accepted responsibility for not delivering on a promise he made to Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura to have the surface of the bypass road completed by December 26 last year.On December 20, 2005, Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura ordered the road surfacing work finished by the December 26 deadline so as to avoid inconveniencing…
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New Year road safety campaign ‘a failure’
PHUKET: Dr Wanchai Sattayawutthipong, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO), yesterday called the provincial road safety campaign over the holiday period a “failure”.Between December 29 and January 4, one man and one woman were killed and 90 people were injured in road accidents on the island.The PPHO had set “targets” of a maximum of four dead and 69…
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Phi Phi construction ban eased
PHI PHI ISLANDS: The government has finally allowed construction of tsunami relief homes on Koh Phi Phi Don, along with temporary structures so that locals may conduct business.Phankam Kitithorakul, Chairman of the Ao Nang Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor), the local authority responsible for the Phi Phi Islands, told the Gazette, “[It is] lucky for us that I had the chance…
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Thalang man stabbed to death
THALANG: A young Thai man was stabbed to death in the early morning of January 2 at Baan Li Porn. A motive for the murder has not yet been determined.The police received a phone call at around 1 am from a local citizen saying that a man had been stabbed in front of the car tire store Baan Li Porn…
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UK student found dead on Samui
SAMUI: The policeman in charge of the investigation into the death of British tourist Catherine Horton suspects foul play may be responsible, but said that a preliminary police examination of the body revealed no signs of assault or rape. Pol Maj Thanongsak Aksornsom of the Samui District Police told the Gazette that Miss Horton ‘s body, in a black dress,…
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Briton fined for having handgun
THALANG: Englishman Adam Douglas, 52, was arrested on December 30 after taking a .38 revolver loaded with five rounds into a restaurant near Wat Sri Soontorn on Thepkrasattri Rd.Pol Col Chinrat Rittakananon, Superintendent of Thalang Police Station, told the Gazette police visited Mae Khin Restaurant during their routine daily patrol to ensure that local venues closed at 1 am.Douglas was…
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Gambling tops arrests for December
PHUKET: Statistics released by Phuket Provincial Police show that gambling came out trumps once again to top the arrests table, with 256 people arrested from December 1 to 25 for the offense. Thirty-seven cases involved the sale of illegal underground lottery tickets.Two murders were reported during the month, with one case solved. There were two cases of attempted murder in…
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Bar girl allegedly “added injury to insult’
KARON: Chalong Police are on the lookout for a bar hostess named “Poo” who broke the heart of a Swedish tourist – then added injury to insult by smashing a beer bottle over his head on New Year’s Eve.Report of the incident was made by the victim not long after the attack, which occurred at around 1:30 am on January…
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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