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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Gruesome double murder in fishing port
PHUKET TOWN: Two Burmese fishermen were found murdered on Soi Si Sena, in Phuket’s fishing port, on Saturday morning. Pol Maj Songwut Khunjan of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that the first man, as yet unidentified, was wearing a white shirt and green pants and appeared to be 20-25 years old. He is thought to have died at…
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Crackdown on insect souvenirs
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Forestry Office has announced its intention to crack down on anyone selling, buying, hunting, collecting or “doing anything threatening whatsoever” to 15 species of endangered insects. The insects, four kinds of beetles and 11 kinds of butterflies, are already protected under the 1992 Preserved and Protected Wild Animals Act. Recently, dried remains of some of these…
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Pig disease “no danger to Phuket’
PHUKET: Following reports that the deadly Nipah virus is making a comeback in northern Malaysia, Phuket’s health chief today sought to allay worries that the disease may spread to southern Thailand, including Phuket. Dr Boonrieng Chuchaisangrat, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Health Office told the Gazette, “So far, there have been no reports of anyone in the country getting this…
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Smiling bag-snatcher caught, alive
PHUKET TOWN: The smiling bag snatcher who grabbed at least 11 purses in Phuket over the last month, including five in one 24-hour period, was nabbed by police after committing another crime at Tesco Lotus Supercenter on Thursday night. On Wednesday, Pol Col Chalit Thinthanee, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police, ordered his officers to catch the bag-snatcher “dead or alive”.…
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Japanese tourist drowns at Koh Hey
CHALONG: A Japanese tourist, Makoto Kato, drowned at Koh Hey Island this afternoon, not long after eating his first meal on the island. Pol Maj Sanae Panmee of Chalong Police Station said, “The victim’s guide told us that Mr Kato ate lunch, during which time he drank some beer, and then went snorkeling. “We still don’t know exactly how he…
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Thai Rak Thai announces MP candidates
PHUKET: The Thai Rak Thai Party has named its candidates for Phuket’s two parliamentary seats in the general election that must be held before the end of this year. Yada Palimapan, a member of the Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), is to stand for Voting District 1, which covers Phuket Town apart from Tambon Rassada and Tambon Koh Kaew. Hiran Thepsiri-amnuoy…
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Shipwreck survivors plucked from sea
PHUKET: A Thai transport ship, H. Charoensamut 28, on Monday rescued nine Indonesian sailors whose cargo vessel had sunk two days earlier. The survivors are now in Phuket awaiting repatriation. Jian Tabpian, 51, captain of the Thai ship, told Marine Police that as his vessel was passing through the Straits of Malacca, one of his crew saw the nine men…
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Bag-snatchers must be caught, “dead or alive’
PHUKET TOWN: The top policeman in Phuket Town, Pol Col Chalit Thinthanee, has issued instructions that a group of bag-snatchers are to be caught “dead or alive” after a huge surge in bag thefts in Phuket Town. Eleven cases have been reported in the past three weeks, five of them on Saturday and Sunday alone. All the thefts were from…
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Dutchman charged in Koh Samui murder
BANGKOK (AFP): Thai police investigating the strangling of an elderly Dutch woman on the southern resort island of Koh Samui said today that they have arrested a fellow Dutch national. Helmut Johan Beute, a 35-year-old from Enschede, was arrested yesterday after police found the body of 65-year-old Martha Johanna Jansen, from Haarlem, in her holiday bungalow on Saturday. She had…
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OrBorJor agrees to lower tax on hotels
PHUKET: Lobbying by hoteliers has convinced the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) to reduce the amount of tax it will levy on hotel room revenues. The hotel tax is one of three local taxes the Thai Constitution allows the provincial OrBorJor to levy. The other two apply to fuel and tobacco, both of which were implemented in Phuket last year.…
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Roof workers find historic documents
PHUKET TOWN: Workers fixing the roof of the Phuket Provincial Office made an extraordinary find last week in a corner of the building’s attic: four stacks of documents dating back as far as 80 years ago. Astonishingly, the find came just a few days after another group of roofing workers found similar documents under the roof of the Phuket Provincial…
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Shortage of tour guides causes problems
PHUKET: The island is suffering from a serious shortage of licensed tour guides, giving rise to increasing complaints from tourists, a meeting called by the Phuket Chamber of Commerce heard on Wednesday. While there are 363 licensed tour operators in Phuket, there are just 135 licensed guides, those at the gathering heard. The meeting – which brought together representatives of…
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Robbers stab German resident to death
CHANTABURI (AFP): A 52-year-old German man was stabbed to death in a bungled robbery in eastern Thailand yesterday. One of the three men suspected of killing him has been shot dead, police said. Dieter Meyer, from Frankfurt, was found dead early yesterday in the Kitchakud district of Chantaburi Province, Pol Lt Komon Cholcheep said. He had been stabbed five times.…
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Teens in “Romeo and Juliet’ double suicide
THALANG: Two Thai teenagers drowned in a reservoir in Thalang yesterday evening in what police believe may have been a double suicide echoing the classic tragedy of “Romeo and Juliet”. Pol Capt Suwarid Prommul of Thalang Police Station said that the two – food shop worker Maitree Kumvisete, 19, and Chanida Tiyapongpattana, 16, a student at Phuket Vocational College –…
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Sweden pledges help for Cyber City plan
PHUKET TOWN: A conference held today to lay out government plans for turning Phuket into a “Cyber City” heard a pledge of substantial support for the project from the Swedish government. “Sweden stands ready to provide financing for consultancy studies,” Swedish Ambassador Jan Nordlander told the meeting. “We are also ready to provide training in information technology at an advanced…
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Angel Air suspends services
BANGKOK (AFP): Private airline Angel Air said today it is looking for partners after suspending all flights due to financial problems. The airline, which was given an operating permit by the government in 1998 as part of a broad plan to liberalize Thai aviation, said in a statement it was looking for help from another airline. “Angel Air has recently…
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Pattana Kathu Party wins landslide victory
KATHU: The Pattana Kathu Party has won a landslide victory in the Kathu Municipal Council elections that took place on Saturday, winning 11 of the council’s 12 seats. Two thirds of the municipality’s 9,732 registered voters cast ballots. Each was able to vote for as many as 12 candidates. Prasert Kaokijpaisarn, the leader of Pattana Kathu, gathered the highest number…
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All saved as ferry burns and sinks
PHUKET: Courageous ferry skippers who came alongside a burning tour boat today in Phang Nga Bay saved all 166 passengers and three crew. There were no injuries. The ferry, the 30-meter “Phuket Cruiser 2”, left Rassada Quay on the east side of Phuket Town for Phi Phi Island at 8 am. About an hour later, fire broke out in the…
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BUPA launches special medical coverage
PHUKET: International insurance giant BUPA Blue Cross, which recently opened a branch in Phuket, is offering personal medical coverage of 300,000 baht for an annual charge of less than 10 baht a day, the company has announced. For Shopper Card holders, the company is offering an additional discount of 10%, but that offer will expire on June 30 after the…
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World’s biggest croc celebrates birthday
BANGKOK (AFP): The world’s biggest crocodile celebrated his 28th birthday today with a cake and a whole chicken at a private zoo on the outskirts of Bangkok. “Yai”, whose name means “Big”, is six meters long and weighs 1,114 kilograms, zoo officials said. The massive reptile, a cross between the fresh-water and salt-water breeds of crocodile, entered the Guinness Book…
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Slow start for petition against professor
PHUKET TOWN: A petition aimed at pressuring a prominent academic into withdrawing remarks he made about about a revered former abbot of Wat Chalong and to apologise to the people of Phuket has taken off slowly, with only 1,000 or so signatories so far. As reported in the Gazette Online’s Daily News yesterday, Kasetsart University professor Dr Poowadon Songprasert has…
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Swiss expatriate drowns
KATA: A 71-year-old Swiss expatriate, Walter Ledermann, who lived near Chalong Circle, drowned after going swimming in front of Club Med at Kata on Monday evening. Pol Lt Teerawat Liumsuwan of Chalong Police Station said, “At 2 pm [on Monday], Mr Ledermann told his wife Pang, before she went out, that he was planning to go swimming. When she got…
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Angry Phuketians slam professor
PHUKET: A university professor in Bangkok has so angered some people in Phuket with his remarks to a magazine that a petition is being raised to try to pressure the professor to withdraw his remarks and apologize. The professor, Dr Poowadon Songprasert of Kasetsart University, made the remarks about Luang Por Cham, the much-revered abbot of Wat Chalong at the…
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Governor checks out mini-sub
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Governor Charnchai Soontharamut, accompanied by the Phuket Harbour Master, officers from the Royal Thai Navy and local police officers, went to Koh Sirae this afternoon to examine the mini-submarine located by Gazette reporters. The visit came after K. Charnchai saw pictures taken by the Gazette and reprinted in an English-language daily newspaper. After taking photographs and measuring…
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Open invitation to high-level “IT City” meeting
PHUKET TOWN: The organizers of a seminar to discuss the plans for turning Phuket into a “Cyberport and International City” have issued an invitation to all interested parties to attend the high-level meeting next Wednesday (June 14) at the Pearl Hotel in Phuket Town. Seventy seats will be allocated to members of the public, on a first-come, first-served basis. Speakers…
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Gap between rich and poor widens in Thailand
BANGKOK (AFP): The gap between rich and poor in Thailand has continued growing since the 1997 Asian economic crisis as more people slip below the poverty line, a cabinet statement said today. The National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) said in its latest study sent to the cabinet that some 7.9 million Thais live below the poverty line on…
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Three more mini-subs found in Rawai
RAWAI, PHUKET : Mini-sub fever, sparked by newspaper reports of a submarine being built in a Phuket shipyard for Sri Lanka’s rebel Tamil Tigers, reached a new pitch at the weekend with reports of another small sub sighted in the waters off Koh Hey Island, south of Phuket’s Chalong Village. Spurred into action, Chalong police investigated the report and on…
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Mystery mini-sub found on Koh Sirae
KOH SIRAE, PHUKET: Gazette staff today located and photographed the mini-submarine that has been at the center of a controversy over the presence of Tamil rebel operations in Phuket. But so far, the discovery of the mini-sub raises more questions than it answers. The part-finished sub is about five meters long and is large enough to hold two, perhaps three…
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Mud flies in Kathu election campaign
KATHU: With only eight days to go, the contest for 12 seats on the Kathu Municipal Council is becoming increasingly heated. On Wednesday, Somwong Torwong, candidate number 10 of the Kathu Ruamjai Party, was disqualified because it was found he is registered as living in Patong, not Kathu. As the application deadline was last month, Kathu Ruamjai, led by Suthep…
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Free window tint checks on offer
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket transportation officials say they have started providing free window tint tests for motorists. The tests are intended to help drivers comply with a law that has already gone into effect, but which will not be enforced until June 1 next year. The new law prohibits vehicles from having windows that block out more than 60% of light.…
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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