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.
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Love is a 19,000-baht bunch of blossoms
PHUKET: Valentine’s Day will be marked by smiling lovers and red roses if today’s informal survey of 10 florists by the Gazette proves accurate. But the biggest smile will probably be seen on the face of a woman who receives a bunch of rare black roses from Holland, this year’s most valuable blossoms at 19,000 baht a bunch. Metha Supasri,…
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Pileup on Patong Hill
PATONG: Police are seeking a bus driver who fled the scene after his vehicle was involved in a collision with a car and a truck on Patong Hill yesterday. The bus, a 24-seater vehicle owned by a Bangkok company, was empty apart for the driver when the crash happened at about 5:15pm, 300 meters west of the Chinese shrine. Pol…
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Tourist drowns in hotel pool
PATONG: Tourists dived to the rescue of a Taiwanese guest who had sunk to the bottom of a hotel swimming pool on Sunday, but were unable to save his life. Wang Jeng Chuan, 31, arrived at the Merlin Beach Hotel on Thaweewong Rd, Patong, on Sunday morning. He was swimming in the hotel pool around 4 pm that day when,…
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US command ship visits Phuket
PHUKET: The US Navy’s 7th Fleet command ship, the USS Blue Ridge, arrived here today. While in port, 7th Fleet Commander, V/Adm James Metzger, and his staff will have a series of meetings with Thai military and civilian leaders to discuss regional issues of concern, including the fight against terrorism. They will also discuss holding combined exercises with the Royal…
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Valentine’s Day is no D-Day
PHUKET: Hundreds of couples are lining up to marry in Phuket on Valentine’s Day and the message for couples who want to divorce on February 14 is: Please don’t. “I don’t want any couple divorcing on that day because it’s a day of love and happiness,” Sirinee Leelanont, Chief Registrar at the Thalang District Office, told the Gazette. Last year…
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A quieter Chinese New Year
PHUKET: The Chinese New Year may have opened in Phuket with many a bang from strings of firecrackers, but otherwise it’s pretty quiet, an informal survey by the Gazette indicated today. Fresh food sellers, jewelers and other retailers in Phuket responded with much the same bottom-line answer: sales are down. Usually gold, symbolizing wealth and good fortune, is given to…
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Bust nets B8.5m in smuggled goods
AO MAKHAM: A squad of 25 Marine Police officers seized boat spares, radios and electronic equipment worth 8.5 million baht in a raid on a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Saturday. Pol Col Peera Boonliang, Superintendent of the Phuket Marine Police, told the Gazette yesterday, “We received a tip-off that the goods would arrive on a Taiwanese fishing boat and be…
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Policeman in murder-suicide
PATONG: A policeman stationed at Tungtong Police Station shot his girlfriend dead early yesterday morning, then killed himself with a single bullet to the head. Neighbors of the couple, Pol L/Cpl Chamlong Homkate, 29, and 26-year-old Vanich Meejun, called police just before 2 am to report hearing two gunshots from the couple’s room on Phra Barami Rd. The couple had…
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Deputy PM launches recycling initiative
PHUKET TOWN: Deputy Prime Minister Pitak Intrawitayanunt launched a government initiative yesterday to sort and recycle trash in Phuket. Participants in a seminar at the Metropole Hotel discussed various ways to effectively dispose of trash to lighten the workload of the overburdened municipal incinerator at Saphan Hin. Khunying Chodchoy Sophonpanit, Chairperson of the Thai Environment & Community Development Association (TECDA),…
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Alien search center lands in Phuket
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Labor and Social Welfare Office has set up a center to seek out and arrest illegal aliens. The center is located at the office’s premises on Narisorn Rd, Phuket Town. Those who wish to report sightings of, or close encounters with, illegal aliens can call 076-354035 or 076-354036 between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm, or visit…
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ASEAN ministers to meet in Phuket
BANGKOK: Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will meet in Phuket on February 20 and 21 for a two-day “retreat”, officials said today. Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Rattakit Manathat said the meeting would have no set agenda, but was likely to follow up on issues explored at the ASEAN summit in Brunei last year. Measures to…
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Man held over large shark fin haul
PHUKET TOWN: A tip-off led the Marine Police to arrest a Taiwanese fisherman in possession of 115 shark fins today, the second arrest of its kind in just over three weeks. The man, named by police as Chern Whan Yee, 58, left his boat, “Worita”, this morning carrying two large white bags. When the officers asked Chern to open the…
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Tourist drowns off Surin Beach
SURIN BEACH: Italian tourist Marisa Tolomelli, 69, drowned while swimming off Surin Beach yesterday afternoon. Mrs Tolomelli and her husband at first went swimming together. The husband then returned to the beach to sunbathe. She disappeared shortly afterwards. Pol Capt Anake Mongkol of the Cherng Talay Police Station told the Gazette that witnesses said Mrs Tolomelli had been missing for…
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Couple arrested for fraud
PHUKET TOWN: Police on Monday arrested the son of a prominent Phuket businessman, along with his wife, on charges of fraud. Thiti “Kob” Tandavanitj, 31, and his wife Sukannikar, 24, were arrested at K-House on Phang-nga Rd after a complaint was laid by 22 employees of the couple’s website design company, Data Info Co Ltd. The employees alleged that the…
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Boat owners warned over tax
PHUKET: The Phuket Excise Department has warned the owners of all imported pleasure craft, including speedboats and jet-skis, to settle their outstanding taxes before April 1 or face huge fines and possible imprisonment. An Excise Department statement said the grace period would give boat owners time to pay taxes owed. The total import taxes payable on foreign-made pleasure craft were…
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Mobile phone ban for motorists
BANGKOK (AFP): The government today tabled a proposal to outlaw the use of mobile phones by motorists, saying they distract drivers and cause accidents, a senior minister said. Defense Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh told reporters that the cabinet’s Scrutinizing Committee had agreed to draft legislation that would prohibit motorists from talking on mobile phones, even with the use of hands-free equipment.…
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Teen gang “robbed to buy drugs and toys’
PHUKET TOWN: Police believe they have brought a series of snatch-and-ride crimes to an end with the arrest at the weekend of four young suspects who, officers say, used their ill-gotten gains to buy toys and drugs. Women riding motorbikes alone after dark were the gang’s usual targets. Police allege that the three boys and a girl would grab handbags,…
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Alleged ya bah dealer slain
KAMALA: A man police say they believe was a drug dealer was ambushed and shot dead soon after dropping his daughter at school in Kamala today. The killing took place soon after 8 am as Natee Yayee, 35, rode his motorcycle across the bridge at Klong Pakbang, after dropping his daughter at Baan Kamala School. Pol Maj Pisit Cheanpetch, Inspector…
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Dozens of sea turtles hatch
MAI KHAO: A nest of leatherback turtles hatched at the weekend on Mai Khao beach, the fourth hatching since January 17. The mother turtle arrived on the beach to lay the eggs in December. Thanu Naep-nien, spokesperson for the environmentalist group Wildlife Fund Thailand, said, “There were 105 eggs in the nest. Around 80 have hatched. They started hatching Saturday…
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Jammin latest victim of crackdown
PHUKET TOWN: Jammin Music Club on Bangkok Rd became the latest victim of the crackdown on the entertainment industry when it was raided by police early this morning and ordered closed for 30 days because one customer was found to be underage. Officers led by Phuket Town Police Station Superintendent Paween Pongsirin went to the club at around 12:30 am,…
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Phuket Town to host biker festival
PHUKET TOWN: After failing to persuade Patong to host their event, the organizers of the Phuket Bike Rally have now received the go-ahead from the authorities in Phuket Town to stage three days of contests, games and parties at Saphan Hin, from February 22 to 24. Tanate Trivut, managing director of Delice Thai Co, the management company for the event,…
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Patong tap water declared safe
PATONG: The tap water in the Patong municipal area has been declared safe for drinking. Deputy Interior Minister Sora-at Klinpratoom made the announcement this morning at Loma Public Park on Thaweewong Rd, shortly before taking a drink from one of the three fountains set up to provide free water to thirsty residents and tourists in the area. “I think this…
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Shark staff petition in vain
PHUKET TOWN: 131 staff members of Patong’s Shark Club, ordered closed yesterday by Phuket Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi, assembled at the Provincial Hall this afternoon to demand that he reopen the club. They were unable to meet with the governor, who was in Bangkok today, and instead presented their petition to Vice Governor Manit Wattanasen. Three representatives – Pathamapan Rattanapan,…
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Governor shuts the Shark
PHUKET: The biggest disco in Phuket, Patong’s Shark Club & Discotheque, was today ordered closed permanently on instructions from the Minister of Interior, Purachai Piemsomboon. The closure order, announced by Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi, came after it was discovered that the operating license for the disco – which can hold more than 1,500 revelers at a time – contained irregularities…
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Vice-Governor shuts Timber Hut
PHUKET TOWN: One of Phuket’s oldest and most popular nighttime venues, the Timber Hut pub on Yaowarat Rd, has been ordered to close for 30 days because a Vice-Governor saw people dancing there. Vice-Governor Manit Wattanasen told the Gazette that he went to the pub on Saturday to meet a friend, and saw people dancing. “Muang District is in my…
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Sailor killed, dumped at sea
PHUKET TOWN: The body of a man who had been stabbed 15 times was found in the fishing port of Soi Si Sena at the weekend. Police received a phone call from a local fisherman at about 1:30 pm on Saturday and found the body of the unidentified man floating in the water, said Pol Lt Parichat Jaturonpun of Phuket…
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Couples set to get wet and wed
TRANG: A record number of couples are expected to marry in the annual mass underwater wedding ceremony off Trang on Valentine’s Day. Partly because there’s no need to bring something blue – they will be floating in it – Trang’s watery wedding on February 14 is expected to win a place in the Guinness Book of Records. So far, 36…
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Appeal for action against megastores
PHUKET TOWN: A crisis meeting of the Phuket Chamber of Commerce (PCC) today pushed for government support for small Thai retailers in the face of overwhelming competition from large foreign supermarkets and discount stores. The meeting was told that as many as 250,000 small retail outlets around Thailand had already been forced to close because they could no longer compete.…
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50 international phone booths vandalized
PHUKET: More than 50 public telephones for international calls have been jammed in what appears to be a campaign of deliberate vandalism. Plastic cards, cut in half, were jammed into the phone card slots in booths around the island. Some would-be callers, angry at not being able to make overseas phone calls, added to the damage by venting their frustration…
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Police raid Asia Island Homes office
CHERNG TALAY: A squad of some 10 officers from the Bangkok-based Economic Crimes Unit (ECU) yesterday raided one of Phuket’s biggest property development companies, Asia Island Homes (AIH), and arrested two people for work permit violations. Sources who asked not to be named told the Gazette that the investigators arrived at about midday, armed with a search warrant issued by…
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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