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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Port murders hit double digits
PHUKET: A man believed to be a Burmese fisherman was found dead on the shore opposite the Rattanachai dry dock in Phuket’s fishing port early yesterday morning. The murder was the tenth this year in the same area. Pol Capt Chaum Kaosrisuwan of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that the man, as yet unidentified, had died from eight…
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Skal Club gets new committee
PHUKET: The Skal Club of Phuket has elected a new committee. The members are: Eric Hallin, President; Andy Dowden, Vice President; Suwit Auttayatmavitaya, Treasurer; and Alan Cooke, Secretary.
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Thai economy continues fragile: World Bank
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s economic recovery is on track but remains fragile, volatile and uncertain, the World Bank said today. Thailand’s recovery will remain difficult as long as the ongoing process of financial and corporate reform lags behind most of Asia, the bank said in a report on East Asia. “The pace and quality of the financial and corporate reforms continues…
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Angry villagers demand justice in stabbing case
CHALONG: Nearly 100 villagers joined a heated protest yesterday evening at the Chalong Police Station to demand justice for a villager stabbed to death a week earlier. The case concerns 23-year-old Supradit “Ad” Boonyawat, who was stabbed to death during a brawl in a karaoke restaurant in Karon on September 9. The brawl allegedly involved eight people, including the owner…
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Couple ‘delivered drugs with laundry’
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Town Police detectives yesterday arrested a husband and his wife on charges of selling ya bah (methamphetamine). Pol Capt Somkid Boonyarat identified the couple as Somkiet Charoenjit, 25, who has a small laundry business, and Malee Sorn-un, 29, a singer. Detectives had been watching Somkiet and Malee for a while, Capt Somkid said. They had gathered evidence…
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Norwegian murder suspect arrested in Phuket
PHUKET: Thai Immigration Police yesterday arrested a Norwegian man accused of brutally murdering his 3-month-old son in Norway, and then fleeing to Thailand. Morten Storborg, 32, was arrested in Rawai at the Phuket Island Resort, five days after arriving in Thailand. Pol Col Apirak Hongtong, superintendent of the Phuket Immigration Police, told the Gazette that Storborg was arrested and then…
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Jet Ski accident victim flown to Phuket
PHI PHI: The Phuket Police Aviation Division (PPAD) dispatched a helicopter to Koh Phi Phi yesterday morning to pick up a Swedish tourist injured in a jet-ski mishap. Dr Somchai Viriyakhattiyaporn, a brain surgeon at Bangkok Phuket Hospital, told the Gazette that he received a phone call at 10:30 am yesterday from a Swedish insurance agency, informing him that a…
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Vegetarian festival sponsors upset Chinese residents
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket’s native Chinese residents are unhappy that two private companies involved in organizing the annual Vegetarian Festival seem to be commercializing this traditional event. Amnuay Sa-nguannam, Vice Governor of Phuket, chaired a committee meeting yesterday at Phuket Provincial Hall to discuss the festival’s plans with representatives from government offices, private organizations, and Phuket’s Chinese shrines. At the meeting,…
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Donation center to help flood victims
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Provincial Government opened a temporary donation center yesterday to help people hit by recent floods in the north and northeast. The center has been set up in the Phuket Provincial Welfare Office at the Provincial Hall, Narison Rd, and is accepting donations of money, consumer goods and food. “We have received a lot of help from…
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Monks make complaint about stray dogs
PHUKET TOWN: A committee of monks from Wat Langsarn on Narisorn Rd, behind the Provincial Court House, have written a letter to the Muang Municipality complaining about nearly 30 stray dogs living in the wat’s compound. Udom Tansakul, an official at the Municipality, said that the letter, received yesterday, requested that his office remove the dogs. “The main problem is…
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Dolphin rescued at Nai Harn Beach
NAI HARN: Villagers at Nai Harn Beach found two striped dolphins trapped in shallow waters this morning. One dolphin was lying on the beach in obvious distress. Its body was covered with wounds from scraping on the rocks. The other dolphin was swimming in shallow water nearby. The villagers contacted a biologist at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC), Kongkiet…
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Pavena raid fails to free sex slaves
TUB LAMU: Politician Pavena Hongsakul, champion of abused women in Thailand, yesterday accompanied police on a raid on a brothel in this Phang Nga village in a bid to free women believed to have been forced into prostitution. But she and the police came away empty-handed, the owner of the brothel having apparently been tipped off minutes before they arrived.…
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Tourist raped on Koh Samui
KOH SAMUI: A 26-year-old Norwegian tourist was allegedly raped by a sorng taew (local bus) driver around midnight yesterday. The woman, identified by police as Gry Slaem, told police that she had been drinking with a friend and had fallen asleep. When she woke, her friend was gone and she did not know the way back to her room at…
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Still no sign of fugitive mayor
PHUKET: Almost a year after a warrant was issued for his arrest on charges of involvement in a murder, the former mayor of Patong, Dr Anan Ananthanawat, is still being sought by police. Pol Lt Col Paween Pongsirin, Deputy Superintendent of Investigation at Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette that a team of Provincial Special Duty Squad officers had…
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Flyers A win Patong 7s soccer
PATONG: Patong Flyers A won the 2nd Annual Patong Sevens soccer championship yesterday, beating their opponents 3-1. The win, however, came at the expense of their good friends on the Patong Flyers B squad – both teams are sponsored and managed by Peter Koch, owner of the Austrian Restaurant in Patong. Organizers were considering canceling the final game of the…
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Deadly rat disease “found in Phuket’
PHUKET TOWN: Health authorities in Phuket are waiting for the results of lab tests being performed in Bangkok to confirm a doctor’s diagnosis that a Phuket Town man has contracted the potentially deadly disease, leptospirosis. The victim is Thaweeporn Thongterm, 24. He reported to Phuket International Hospital on Monday evening suffering from symptoms which, said Dr Ekachai Singtiraj, were strongly…
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PTA moves to new offices
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Tourist Association (PTA) this morning opened its new offices on the bypass road, opposite the Nissan showroom. It previously had offices in the Tourism Authority of Thailand building on Phuket Rd. At the ceremony, Sombat Atiset, managing director of the Kata Thani Hotel and Beach Resort, was officially installed as the new president of the PTA.…
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Power company schedules blackouts
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA) has announced scheduled blackouts for the month of September. The PPEA will be clearing tree branches and installing orange insulating covers on power lines in these areas. The blackouts will last from 9 am to 4 pm. September 12: from Kwang Rd to Chalong Circle, including Chaofa Nai Rd, Moo Baan Tiwarathanee, Baan…
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Laced-drink robbers using killer drug
PHUKET TOWN: The Chief of the Phuket Provincial Health Office, Dr Boonrieng Chuchaisangrat, today issued a warning to residents and tourists not to accept drinks from friendly strangers. He said that the police have recently had reports of a number of cases of people being drugged with laced soft drinks before being robbed. But in a sinister new twist to…
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Phuket police launch websites
PHUKET: Two police departments in Phuket have created websites to improve communication with the public. The Phuket Immigration Police have set up a website at https://www.phuketimmigration.com“>https://www.phuketimmigration.com. There, anyone may report aliens who break the law, appear to present a security threat, or are “behaving strangely”, the Superintendent of Phuket Immigration Police, Col Apilak Hongtong, explained. The Phuket Provincial Police website…
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Meningitis makes a deadly comeback
PHUKET: In the first seven months of this year, 15 people have died in Thailand of meningococcal meningitis. Of these deaths, two were in Phuket. The highest rate of infection was in the South, where 16 people contracted the disease. Six of them died. Next was Central Thailand, where 13 were infected, resulting in another six deaths. In the North…
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Danish tourist dies at waterfall
THALANG: Mrs Dorthe Malakiassen, a 41-year-old Danish tourist, died at the Ton Sai waterfall on Friday. Pol Capt Surat Muagsri of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that the victim, a guest at the Thara Patong Hotel, went to the waterfall in Thalang with her husband and two friends around 2:30 pm. “After arriving, they went swimming and were…
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Police swoop on canoe tour, arrest 12
PHANG NGA: Tourists on a canoe trip in Phang Nga Bay on Thursday watched astonished as police, accompanied by local villagers, swooped on their tour boat, the Andaman Queen, and arrested 12 Burmese crewmen. The raid followed complaints from the villagers of Tambon Klong Kian in Takua Thung district that the Burmese were working illegally with the tour company. Officers,…
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House burns on Mae Luan Rd
PHUKET TOWN: Police are investigating the cause of a fire in a house on Mae Luan Rd last night. The case investigator, Pol Capt Surat Moangsri of the Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette he was alerted at about 6:30 pm that the house, number 17/27 on Mae Luan Rd, behind the Tessaban Plook Panya School, was on fire.…
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Six to run for OrBorJor seat
PHUKET: Six candidates have announced plans to stand in a by-election on September 23 to fill a vacant seat in Phuket’s Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor). The six hopefuls are Chockchai Kitsaloran of the OrBorJor Kao Mai Party – which currently holds the majority in the council – and five independents: Teerasak Wichutanont, Wisut Tangwittayaporn, Samran Jindapon, Chonramat Thanundornwat and Wittaya…
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Thief stabs store manager in neck
PHUKET TOWN: A manager of a Kata jewelry store is lying in the Bangkok Phuket Hospital tonight after being stabbed in the neck during a struggle with a thief at his Sam Kong home yesterday. Police said that Prasit Rattanakultontip, 40, a manager of P James Jewelry in Kata, was stabbed by an unidentified man while he was cleaning his…
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Thaksin to be next PM: poll
BANGKOK (AFP): Tycoon-turned-politician Thaksin Shinawatra is leading rivals in the race to be Thailand’s next prime minister, according to a new survey of Bangkok residents released today. The Bangkok University poll found Thaksin commanded 39.2% support, ahead of Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, who drew 31.7%. Since Thaksin set aside his telecommunications empire to establish the Thai Rak Thai party two…
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Illegal immigrants top crime stats
PHUKET: Illegal immigration cases overtook gambling to top the list of crimes committed during the month of August, according to statistics released today by the Phuket Provincial Police. The figures show that 170 illegal immigrants were arrested in Phuket between August 1 and 25. In the same period, narcotics possession and trafficking cases came in second with a total of…
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Phuket to get new governor
PHUKET: The Governor of Phuket for the past year, Charnchai Soontharamut, will move to a new post as Governor of Surat Thani Province on October 1, as part of a nationwide reshuffling of 34 governors and senior staff of the Ministry of Interior. He will be replaced by Pongpayome Vasaputi, currently the Governor of Narathiwat province, the southernmost province of…
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Bangladeshi murdered by gangsters
PHUKET TOWN: A Bangladeshi man was murdered on Monday near the Ta & Yai restaurant on Soi Taringchan, allegedly by a member of a Burmese gang. Pol Maj Pissanu Poonwongs of the Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that officers received a phone call yesterday around 3 pm, informing them that somebody had been murdered next to the restaurant.…
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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