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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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.…
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No bids in controversial land auction
PHUKET: The controversial auction of two of the largest plots of land on Racha Yai Island was cancelled this afternoon after not a single buyer registered to bid. The auction, scheduled to begin at 2 pm in The Metropole hotel in Phuket Town, was called off half an hour later by auctioneers Harrison Realty Co. An angry Apichart Archadej, managing…
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About-face on tinted windows
PHUKET: Phuket’s top traffic policeman, Pol Lt Col Teeraphol Thipjaroen, has responded with resignation to yesterday’s announcement in Bangkok that a new law barring heavily tinted windows in vehicles will not be enforced for at least a year. “So what can I do?” said Lt Col Teeraphol. “I don’t make law. I enforce it. So it will be another year…
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Bad numbers for gamblers
PHUKET: May 1 to May 25 was a bad time for Phuket’s gamblers, who once again topped the island’s arrests league. According to statistics released by the Phuket Provincial Police, a total of 167 people were arrested on charges related to gambling during the period. In second place were the 145 people held on narcotics charges. This figure included ya…
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“Ladies only” buses launched in Bangkok
BANGKOK (AFP): All-female “lady buses” will begin operating in Bangkok today, in a bid to eliminate sexual harassment of female passengers. The buses, which are marked with pink signs, will only take females and will “provide comfort and safety for women … freeing them from sexual harassment,” the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) said in a statement. If male passengers…
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Politician’s son reports to police
PHUKET TOWN: Accompanied by his politician father, Pol Sub Lt Wanchalerm Yoobumroong came to Phuket last Wednesday to visit the Phuket Provincial Attorney’s Office in connection with an incident at the Alien Pub here three years ago. It is alleged that Sub Lt Wanchalerm and some friends got into a fight with a group of teenagers. According to some witnesses,…
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Hospitals kept busy with traffic injuries
PHUKET: Eighteen people were killed in traffic accidents in Phuket between March 20 and April 20, a considerable improvement on last year. Last year the figure for the period – which includes Songkhran – was higher, with 25 deaths, of which 23 involved people on motorcycles. Ampaipan Pawawattananusorn of the Phuket Provincial Health Office reported that according to statistics from…
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Illegal sea-walking to continue
PHUKET: Despite an almost two-year-old ban, illegal sea-walking companies were given another eight months to operate on Koh Hey, one of Phuket’s many outlying islands. At a recent meeting at Government House in Bangkok between Phuket Vice Governor Vongsak Sawaspanich, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), and Mrs Paveena Hongsakula, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office (Tourism Division), it was…
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Big Discounts to Europe on Lauda Air
PHUKET: Lauda Air has today announced a whopping 20% discount on Business Class fares from Phuket and Bangkok to any of its destinations in Europe. The offer is available to Gazette Shopper Card holders only and includes a bonus of an extra 10-kilograms in luggage allowance (from 30 kg to 40 kg). Tickets, whether originating from Phuket or Bangkok, must…
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Alleged hirer of hit men surrenders
PHUKET TOWN: A man who is alleged to have hired three hit men in March to kill a 77-year-old woman, surrendered to police on Wednesday. As reported in the Online Gazette in March, the three hit men, Somporn Paotong, Wannarat Kamsoot, and Soontorn Siripan, were first contacted by Saman Jarnjit, a guard at a prawn farm, who hired them to…
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Big hike in water prices imminent
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Town Municipality announced yesterday that the price of piped water supplied from the council’s waterworks will increase massively from next Thursday (June 1). The price will rise by as much as 33% for households and by as much as 44% for businesses. Deputy mayor Jongrak Narukatpichai explained that the hike was necessary because of the spiraling…
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Phuket favored for huge APEC summit
PHUKET: Phuket is the front-runner in the competition to be the venue for a major international summit conference three years from now. Around the end of October, 2003, about 7,500 heads of state, ministers and senior officials from Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries will descend on Thailand for a week of talks. Karoon Rechuyothin, deputy director-general of the Department…
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Man held for selling pirated game CDs
KARON: A street stall owner was arrested on Monday by Chalong Police for selling pirated computer game CDs. Pol Lt Teerawat Liumsuwan of Chalong police station told the Gazette that the arrested man, Charn Mongkolratsameeroj, sells CDs from a stall on Soi Bangla in Karon. He was taken into custody after being reported by Tanarat Meechaiyo, a representative of the…
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More descendants of princess emerge
KAMALA: After the naming of the Yayee family of Kamala as the descendants of the legendary Princess Mahsuri of Langkawi, five more families in the village have claimed blood connections to the princess. The five families– the Doomlak, the Sangthong, the Sariya, the Sooksrisin and the Sungwarn – say they want nothing; they just want the public to know that…
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Fighter pilot crash-lands tuk-tuk
KAMALA: An American fighter pilot who later told police he was bored of flying jets, “borrowed” a tuk-tuk in the early hours of May 22. His high-speed flying skills did not get him far, however; he crashed the tuk-tuk into a ditch and landed in a punch-up with the vehicle’s owner. Pol Capt Komdej Pohthong of Kathu Police Station told…
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At last, lifeguards for beaches
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization, (OrBorJor), is to allocate 3 million baht to providing lifeguards on beaches during the monsoon season, it was announced today. Harnchai Jantarachote, president of the OrBorJor’s Tourism Committee, told the Gazette that statistics compiled by the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) reveal that about 30 people – Thais and foreigners – drowned last…
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Kamala family named as princess’ descendants
KAMALA: Chern Yayee, 62, from Kamala and his family have been named by the Malaysian Government as the long-lost relatives of Princess Mahsuri, a legendary figure in on the Malaysian island of Langkawi. The Yayee family have now been invited to Kuala Lumpur, where they will dine with Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamed, on May 31. According to the…
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QSI confirms PINS takeover
PHUKET: The Board of Directors of the Phuket International School (PINS) announced today that the US-based Quality Schools International (QSI) has accepted its invitation to take over PINS. PINS will therefore close permanently on June 30, and the QSI International School of Phuket will open on the same premises the following day. Mr James Gilson, president of QSI, will be…
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Body found on Cape Panwa beach
AO MAKHAM: The body of a man believed to be a Muslim fisherman was found on the beach in front of the Cape Panwa Hotel on Tuesday evening. Pol Capt Cha-oom Kaosrisuwan of the Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that the man, as yet unidentified, wore a black T-shirt, a green camouflage jacket, and a pair of fishermen’s…
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Crackdown on tinted glass in cars
PHUKET: The traffic police will launch a drive soon against vehicles with very darkly tinted windows, it was announced today. Pol Lt Col Teeraphol Thipjaroen, Deputy Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that a new law comes into effect on June 6, making it illegal to have car windows that have tints cutting out more than 40%…
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Sleeping teenager shot dead
PATONG: A 15-year-old boy, sleeping peacefully at home, was killed in the early hours of Saturday in what police say appears to have been an accidental shooting. Pol Col Kokiat Wongworachart, Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette that Suchart Duangjamlong, 15, was asleep when two bullets, fired from outside, went through the wooden wall of the boy’s home.…
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Missing boatman’s body found
CHERNG TALAY: The body of a missing boatman was found on Saturday, on the sand at Bangtao Beach. Pol Capt Watcharin Jirattikarnwiwat of Cherng Talay Police Station said police had been told last week that the boatman, Boonthep Padsamai, 25, had been washed out to the sea on Wednesday, May 10. Friends said that Boonthep was helping them to haul…
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Parties gear up for national poll
PHUKET: Two of Thailand’s three major political parties, the Democrats and Thai Rak Thai, are close to final selection of their candidates in the run-up to national elections which must be held before the end of this year. Because of the growth in its population, Phuket will elect two members of parliament – it currently has just one. Thai Rak…
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1999 a fine year for tourism in Phuket
PHUKET: Despite criticism that Phuket has become too expensive for its own good, the number of visitors coming to the island in 1999 was up by 15.9% compared with the previous year. This followed an increase of 10.8% between 1997 and 1998, and 4.8% between 1996 and 1997. The visitors also spent more; the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), which…
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Construction worker electrocuted
SAMKONG: A workman fixing an aluminum ceiling in a new house in the Sam Kong area died yesterday of electrocution. A colleague of the dead man told police that he was working at the back of the house on Yaowarat Rd, about 200 meters from the Bangkok Phuket Hospital, when he heard a scream from the front of the house.…
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French tourist dies after pool mishap
PATONG: A 31-year-old French tourist, Franck Amani, who was pulled from the bottom of a hotel swimming pool yesterday morning, died last night at the Bangkok Phuket Hospital. Pol Maj Pisit Cheanpetch of Kathu Police Station told the Gazette that Mr Amani and his friends had gone to Soi Bangla in Patong the previous night and had not returned to…
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Burmese fisherman murdered
PHUKET TOWN: A Burmese fisherman was found murdered in a rented house near the fishing port early yesterday morning. Pol Lt Kaneuing Pitakkultorn of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that, at around 10 am yesterday, he received a phone call informing him of the murder. In the house on Anuphasphuketkarn Rd in Tambon Rassada, Lt Kaneuing found the…
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Report slams attitudes on domestic violence
BANGKOK (AFP): Despite greater democracy and improving economic conditions, Thai women are increasingly at risk from domestic violence, social welfare activists warned today. “Nobody outside the non-governmental organization community is working on the issue. It’s a terrible situation … and the police do not take opportunities to improve their knowledge of the issue,” said Siriporn Skrobanek of the Foundation for…
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Farmers demand help with debts
BANGKOK (AFP): Ten thousand Thai farmers massed in Bangkok today, demanding government help in their battle to pay debts and a new push on agricultural reform. The demonstrators arrived in trucks from 17 northern provinces and congregated at the city’s Royal Plaza, close to Government House. “They want the government to pay off their debts and to solve problems over…
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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