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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Senator calls for Laguna buildings to be demolished
PHUKET: A new land row is brewing at Laguna after the head of the national Land Inspection Working Group called for a toilet to be demolished, claiming it is built on state land.Speaking after a meeting of 14 local officials, Senator Pricha Pitanon backed local land officers’ claims that the toilet, plus another building covering just four square metres, stand…
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Two sought over restaurateur’s murder
RAWAI: Police are on the lookout for a man and a teenager involved in the beating to death of a Koh Racha Yai restaurateur after a 15-year-old boy turned himself to Chalong Police Station yesterday evening.Pol Col Chalit Kaewyarat, Superintendent of Chalong Police Station, told the Gazette that the 15-year-old had confessed to police that he was one of three…
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King’s Cup final day set to be a cracker
KATA: Hopes are riding high for the steady north-easterly wind, today averaging about 16 knots, to continue for the final race in the King’s Cup Regatta tomorrow, which will be a critical factor in determining who will be this year’s winner.While the top three in nearly all race classes are within a few points of each other in the overall…
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Khao Kat Tower viewpoint opens
AO MAKHAM: Vice-Governor Winai Buapradit today presided over the reopening ceremony of Khao Khat Tower, which affords visitors a dramatic 360-degree view of the coastline and islands in Phuket Bay.Work on the tower, a restaurant, a parking lot, several shops and landscaped gardens was carried out by the Wichit Tambon Administration Organization, as part of a 24-million-baht provincial development budget…
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Hi Fidelity edges ahead in King’s Cup
KATA: Winds were a steady 20 knots yet, apart from some moderate chop beyond Koh Racha, the seas were calm for some swift sailing in the King’s Cup Regatta today.Neil Pryde’s Hi Fidelity today finished just 44 seconds ahead of Peter Ahern’s Yo! to take the lead in the Racing class by a single point.As tomorrow will be a rest…
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Swiss visitor murdered in hotel
PATONG: A 61-year-old Swiss tourist was found dead of head wounds in her room at the Horizon Beach Resort Hotel yesterday. Police are treating her death as murder.Staff of the luxury hotel, located on Soi Kebsap, called police at about 1 am yesterday to say that they had found the body of hotel guest Jeanette Sager lying face down in…
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Yo!, High Fidelity neck-and-neck
KATA: Gray skies and lighter winds marked the second day of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta, but the fleet still found enough breeze for the Racing Class to complete three races, leaving Peter Ahern’s Yo! and Neil Pryde’s Hi Fidelity level on overall points, with eight apiece.Meanwhile, the Pla Loma crew member injured in yesterday’s race collision, Sandra Rosewane Lee,…
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Parliamentary candidate engaged
PHUKET: Dr Sriyada Palimapan, due to stand as the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) candidate for Phuket District 1 in next year’s general election, was quietly engaged to Saravuth Shinawatra last Friday in Chiang Mai, the Gazette has learned.Her fiancé – a businessman – is cousin to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.Close friends and immediate family only were invited to the ceremony.…
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Mahachon ‘will not contest Phuket seat’
PHUKET: Phuket is one of only two southern provinces in which the newly-formed Mahachon Party will not field a parliamentary candidate in the coming general election, due to be held by February 13.Chadej Insawang, Secretary of Mahachon and a former governor of Phuket, told the Gazette yesterday that the party had looked into running a candidate in the province, but…
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Drive to decrease holiday accidents
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (ODPM) has launched a campaign to reduce the number of road accidents, injuries and fatalities in the period to the end of the New Year holiday.The ODPM is urging road users not to drink and drive and motorcyclists to wear helmets. It has also urged all drivers to carry their…
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Crash mars first race of regatta
PHUKET: Three people were rescued from the water and a woman has been hospitalized with a suspected broken hip after two yachts collided half a mile offshore in the first day of racing in the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta today.Simon James of the regatta’s race management committee, told the Gazette that Blue Juice and Pla Loma collided half a mile…
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Trouble in the market
PATONG: Mayor Pian Keesin on Friday morning led a squad of Kathu police and more than 30 municipal officers to the Ko Kaew Market, where he ordered the police to detain Ruantong “Da” Wareesri, who is leading the vendors’ fight to keep the market open. K. Da, a committee member of the 240-strong Ko Kaew Market Association, organized a meeting…
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Bamboo sharks released at Cape Panwa
CAPE PANWA: The Phuket Marine Biological Center (PBMC) and Phuket Provincial Administration Organization pooled their resources and released 99 Indonesian Bamboo sharks yesterday in a gesture to mark the birthday of HM King Bhumibol Adulyedej.The sharks – between six and 12 months old and measuring up to 50 centimeters long – were bred at the PMBC. Harmless to humans, these creatures…
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Mobile minimarts launched
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) yesterday unveiled some of the “mobile minimarts” which will sell “clean” food around the island in a 1.5-million-baht initiative to promote food hygiene among vendors and buyers.Phuket Technical College worked with the OrBorJor to design a stainless steel rust-free minimart attachment for motorbikes, at a cost of 23,000 baht each.OrBorJor President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr…
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Gov mediates in spa tax dispute
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura has agreed to ask the Finance Ministry to review the controversial 10% excise tax on spas, following a meeting on the issue held at his office this morning. Gov Udomsak chaired the meeting, which was attended by Phuket Spa Business Club Chaiman Pakin Raktae-Ngam, who is leading the opposition to the tax, and Supatra Horsrisumpun,…
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Cleaning up Patong is my top priority – Pian
PATONG: Mayor Pian Keesin, in what appears to be, finally, a response to years of complaints by tourists and the tourism industry – has pledged to keep the streets of Patong clean and the roads surfaced, and to improve wastewater treatment.K. Pian, who was elected mayor for the second time in June – he lost the position in 2001 in…
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On a wing and a prayer
PHUKET: People in Phuket have made more than half a million origami birds to be sent to the troubled southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat as part of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s unusual peace initiative.Nationally, more than 80 million of the origami birds have been collected. They will be taken by aircraft and scattered over the three provinces – which…
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Three arrested over murder of laborer
PATONG: Police have arrested three men for the murder of Boonsong Sulaopa, a 31-year-old construction worker from Loei, whose body was found dumped in a ditch near Laem Daeng Beach, between Patong and Kamala, on November 24.Pol Capt Sophon Borirak, of Kathu Police Station, said that police had charged Pacheun Muangnontasri with murder, while his brother Boonjan and fellow laborer…
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Plan now or face problems, Phuket warned
PHUKET CITY: The Deputy Secretary General of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), Santi Bangor, today warned that without proper planning Phuket may face growing environmental problems.The island’s official population is 270,000, he said, but some 200,000 other people live here unregistered, and Phuket also gets some four million tourists a year.This means, in effect, that Phuket has…
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Australian student dies in four-story fall
PATONG: A 23-year-old Australian student died after falling four stories from his hotel room in the early hours of this morning.Police believe that Christian Jorgen Halkjaer, from Perth, slipped and fell from the balcony of his room at the Patong Beach Lodge, Rat-U-Thit 200 Phi Rd, after a night out with friends.Pol Lt Col Chaowalit Niemwadee, Deputy Superintendent of Kathu…
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Copy of giant Buddha cast
PHUKET: Work began yesterday on a smaller version of the controversial Mingmongkol Buddha, as the committee behind the project sought to dispel allegations that brass donated to the project had “disappeared”.Rumours have been circulating that more than 12 tons of brass earmarked for the massive image atop the Nakkerd Hills in Karon, had gone missing.The head of the project committee,…
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Date set for Jantra murder trial
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Provincial Court has set an inital date of January 24 for the trial of Briton Michael John Taylor, 40, who is accused of murdering his girlfriend, Jantra Weangta, in August.Taylor has already pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. The court initially set an earlier date for the trial, but Mr Taylor asked the court for…
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Pracha unmoved by Patong pleas
PHUKET: Venues in entertainment zones in Phuket must close at 1 am, tourist destination or no tourist destination, Deputy Minister of the Interior Pracha Maleenont has declared.The deputy minister was responding to a request from the Patong Entertainment Business Association (PEBA) to be allowed to stay open until 2 am.Speaking yesterday to Thai Rak Thai parliamentary candidates Sriyada Palimapan and…
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“Worrying’ Aids figures in Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket has the second-highest incidence of Aids of Thailand’s southern provinces, and the fifth-highest rate in the country, according to the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO).The number of cases is still rising, Dr Wanchai Sattayawuthipong, the head of the PPHO, said. “The number of Aids cases in Phuket has risen in each of the past three years. In Phuket,…
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Shortage of monitors for general election
PHUKET: Just over two months before Thailand’s general election is due to take place, Phuket still does not have enough observers to monitor the polling to ensure that it is clean, one of Thailand’s four Election Commissioners revealed yesterday.“This is a big problem,” the Commissioner, Prinya Nakchudtree, told local authority officials gathered at Phuket Municipality.K. Prinya said the shortage of…
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Blaze damages eight shophouses
KARON: Eight shophouses near the Central Waterfront Tower in Karon were damaged yesterday afternoon in a fire that caused damage estimated at around 10 million baht.Some of the three-story buildings in the row were still under construction and the fire is believed to have started when electricians welding steel in one of the houses dropped sparks into a can of…
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Storm turns into damp squib
PHUKET: Tropical Storm Muifa, which killed some 65 people in the Philippines and was expected to hit Surat Thani, bringing wet and windy weather to Phuket, veered to the north yesterday evening and made landfall in Chumphon.The storm, which had weakened to a tropical depression by the time it hit the Thai coast, dumped heavy rain on the east coast…
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Blood tests to confirm identity of body
PATONG: Police are to use blood tests to try to identify a man whose body was found yesterday near Laem Daeng Beach, halfway between Patong and Kamala.An identity card in the name of Boonsong Sulaopa was found in one of the pockets of the clothes on the victim’s body, but the face was too decomposed to be matched with the picture on…
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Visitors to Phuket up by 10pc
PHUKET CITY: Around two million tourists visited Phuket between January and June this year – an increase of more than 10% on the same period in 2003 – according to the Director of the Phuket office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Suwalai Pinpradab.This year’s visitors brought around 38 billion baht into Phuket, around 4 billion more than during…
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Tropical storm may bring heavy weather
PHUKET: Tropical storm Muifa, which took the lives of at least 65 people when it passed over the Philippines last weekend, is in the Gulf of Thailand and the storm center is expected to make landfall around Surat Thani or Nakhon Sri Thammarat early tomorrow morning. Vichit Phuangsombat, Director of the Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast) told the Gazette that…
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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