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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Kao Mai likely to dominate new OrBorJor
PHUKET TOWN: Following a meeting today organized by the victorious Kao Mai party, which took nine of the 15 Provincial Administrative Council (OrBorJor) seats allocated to Phuket Town in Saturday’s elections, its appears that the party’s leader, Dr Prasit Koysiripong, will become President of the new council. Kao Mai has put together a coalition that includes the Thalang Group Party,…
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Turtle found slaughtered at Mai Khao
MAIKHAO: A young female sea turtle weighing about 85 kilograms was found dead on Mai Khao beach last Sunday. Cuts and wounds around the sea turtle’s neck and legs were found – possibly made by fishing hooks. There was also a large gash in its stomach; there were no eggs. The Phuket Environment Protection Association believes that the sea turtle…
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Boy, 7, dies in shooting accident
RAWAI: A seven-year-old boy, Chalermpol Kriengkrai, accidentally shot and killed himself on Saturday night. According to Pol Capt Chana Suttimas of Chalong Police Station, the accident took place at around 10:30 pm at 71/12 Saiyuan Rd in Rawai. He said that while Chalermpol’s parents were celebrating the Chinese New Year with staff of their speedboat rental company, Nikorn Marine Co,…
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Fire razes 40 shanty homes in Pathumwan
BANGKOK (Gazette exclusive): Fifty firemen and 30 fire trucks battled for five hours this morning to put out a blaze in a shanty neighborhood behind Wat Pathum Wanararm and the World Trade Center in Pathumwan. Although no deaths or injuries have yet been reported, the fire left 40 homes gutted over an area of about two rai. One witness told…
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Baby found dumped, covered in ants
PHUKET: Police are searching for the mother of a baby found dumped in grass in Moo Baan Muang Thong Thani, on Sakdidet Rd, on Thursday. The baby girl was found, covered in ants, by a couple passing by on a motorcycle, who heard her cries. They picked her up and rushed her to Wachira Phuket Hospital. Pol Maj Pissanu Poonwong…
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Australian tourists shot dead, injured in Chiang Mai
BANGKOK (AFP): An Australian man was shot dead and his companion injured when ambushed by a gang of thieves in northern Thailand, police and embassy officials said today. The 24-year-old man died instantly when four armed men pounced on the couple in the mountain-top Aung Kha National Park in Chiang Mai province, 700 kilometers (450 miles) north of Bangkok, late…
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No alcohol on sale tonight or tomorrow
PHUKET: Selling and distribution of all alcoholic beverages is prohibited across Phuket from 6:00 pm today until midnight tomorrow. Tomorrow is OrBorJor (Provincial Council) election day, and the police do not want any problems with drunks. Pol Col Chalit Tintanee, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette that in accordance with the Election Act of 1979, all bars,…
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Former mayor still sought on murder charge
PHUKET: The former mayor of Patong, Dr Anan Ananthanawat, is still being sought by police three months after a warrant was issued for his arrest on charges of involvement in the murder of an ex-policeman. On October 21 last year, five men were arrested for their part in the killing of ex-Pol Sub-Lt Weerapol Panrod, who was shot dead in…
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PM opens Board of Investment Fair
BANGKOK (AFP): Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai was today due to open the two-week Board of Investment Fair 2000, designed to convince the world that the Thai economy has turned the corner and to lure foreign investors to bolster the recovery. The government is touting the fair, which opens to the public tomorrow and is expected to draw between three million…
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One killed, one hurt in head-on collision
KARON: A Thai woman was killed and a Danish tourist hospitalized when their motorcycle was hit by a car on the Karon sea front yesterday. Police said that Chutima Katekae, 21, on the back of the bike, and the driver, named by Phuket International Hospital as Walther Marc, were riding toward Karon from Kata in the early hours of the…
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Russian girl mauled by leopard
PATTAYA (AFP): A 19-year-old Russian girl mauled by a leopard in a theme park here has demanded US$15,000 to pay her medical bills, police said today. Irena Biliard filed a complaint with police after she suffered seven deep cuts on her left hand and arm when the leopard attacked her, a police spokesman said. He said she had apparently been…
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Top Chinese acrobats to do two shows
PHUKET TOWN: The winners of the 1998 World Acrobatics Championships in Monaco, the 70-strong “Hubei” from the People’s Republic of China, will perform two shows at Saphan Hin on February 19. The first show, from 4:30-6:30 pm, will be for students, with tickets priced at 100 baht apiece. The second show, for the general public, will be from 7:30-9:30 pm,…
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15 arrested for fake passports or visas
PHUKET: Police arrested 15 foreigners carrying fake passports or with fake immigration stamps in Patong, Karon, and Kata over the weekend. Pol Col Apirak Hongthong, recently appointed inspector of Phuket’s Immigration Office, said 12 of the arrests were made when his officers checked people selling clothing and fabrics on Patong beach. The other three were made on the beaches at…
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Three arrested for using fake passports
PHUKET TOWN: Three Indian nationals have been arrested by Phuket’s Immigration Police for using fake passports. The three, who were named as Vijay Kumar, 30, Rajeep Uma Mahajak, 31, and Narendar Agarwal, 26, were charged with using forged papers and with entering the country illegally. The arrests came as part of the continuing national drive to inspect foreign residents in…
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Road injuries up in 1999, but deaths down
PHUKET TOWN: The number of people injured in road accidents in Phuket in 1999 was 3% higher than in 1998, but the death toll fell by 6%. A total of 10,553 people were hurt in road accidents, 94% of whom were on motorcycles, up from 10,250 in the previous year. Motorcycles were also by far the biggest cause of road…
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Swede’s death “probably suicide’
KARON: A 36-year-old Swedish tourist was found dead yesterday evening in Karon in what appears to have been a suicide. Pol Lt Teerawat Liumsuwan of the Chalong Police Station said the body of the tourist, whom he named as Kauhava Jauko Tapio, was found in the bathroom of his rented house in the soi opposite Karon Post office. He was…
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Drug dealer shot dead in struggle with police
PHUKET TOWN: A drug dealer was shot dead yesterday in a struggle with narcotics police. A spokesman for Muang District Police Station said that undercover officers Sakarin Pookate and Paiboon Jantarin went to a house on Luang Por Wat Chalong Rd at about 1 am and asked Sarawuth ‘Yao’ Koysomboon, 29, to sell them some ya bah. Once the purchase…
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Myanmar dissidents seize Thai hospital
RATCHABURI (AFP): Heavily armed guerrillas from Myanmar dissident group God’s Army stormed a Thai hospital early this morning and took around 700 patients and staff hostage. Up to 20 fighters from the ethnic-Karen militia, which is led by two twin boys, stormed the hospital in the town of Ratchaburi, 123 kilometres (70 miles) west of Bangkok. Seven hours into the…
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German tourist caught with marijuana
NAI HARN: Police arrested a 41-year-old German tourist here on Saturday for possession of marijuana. The German, whom police named as Udo Euler, 41, was arrested shortly after midnight, when Chalong police received a report that there was a foreigner who “looked like a drug addict” walking on Nai Harn beach. The police went to the beach, where they stopped…
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“The Beach”: Paradise lost or a tourism godsend?
BANGKOK (AFP): As environmentalists lament a potential paradise lost, Thailand’s tourism industry is hoping for a shot in the arm from next month’s release of Leonardo DiCaprio’s new movie “The Beach.” Despite a court battle over accusations that a beach was ruined during shooting of the film, authorities hope scenes of turquoise seas and heavenly beaches will spark a tourism…
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Greenpeace stages demo at incinerator
PHUKET TOWN: Greenpeace (International) and Greenpeace (Thailand) staged a demonstration yesterday in front the incinerator plant at Koh Pii in Phuket Town. The 30 or so placard-carrying protesters started out from the Phuket Merlin Hotel, marching to a spot in front of the incinerator in Saphan Hin. There, they erected banners urging Phuket to shut down the facility. Organizers said…
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Thailand rocked by quake in Laos
BANGKOK (AFP): An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale rocked southern Laos and northern Thai provinces early today but no casualties were reported, Thai officials said. The epicentre of the quake was in a sparsely populated rural area of Laos, 160 kilometres (100 miles) to the northeast of Chiang Mai, Thailand’s northern meteorological center said. The tremor was felt…
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Fishermen arrested for illegal trawling
RAWAI: Chalong Police yesterday stopped four fishing boats and arrested their 16 crew members for fishing illegally in inshore waters. Yootthana Malakarn of the Phuket Fishery Department received an early-morning call from an informant to say that four fishing boats, thought to be dual-trawling, had been seen in the area between Maiton Island and Aow Island, to the south of…
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Boffins identify source of “yellow rain”
PHUKET: The Provincial Health Office today confirmed that the “yellow rain” that has fallen on a small area along Chao Fah Nok Rd over the past 10 days or so is pollen. Dr Boonrieng Chuchaisangrat, chief of the Health Office, told the Gazette that samples of the “rain” were passed to the Phuket branch of the Songkhla Regional Medical Science…
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Health Office to probe mystery “yellow rain”
PHUKET: People on Chao Fah Nok Rd have been astonished and not a little disturbed over the past 10 days by a stinking yellow rain that has fallen, apparently from the sky, for one or two minutes every evening. Samples of the yellow liquid, which falls over an area of about 100 meters in diameter, are to be collected this…
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Campaigning for provincial council heats up
PHUKET: Elections for 24 seats on the Provincial Administrative Council (OrBorJor) will take place across Phuket on February 5. With all seats being contested by at least two candidates, sound trucks have been out in force throughout the island, with campaign teams putting up posters and handing out candidate biographies and manifestoes to as many voters as possible. In Muang…
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Greenpeace ship to visit Phuket
PHUKET TOWN: The fabled Greenpeace ship, the Rainbow Warrior, will arrive in Phuket on Thursday to launch the environmental organization’s “Toxic Free” campaign. This will be the ship’s first visit to Phuket. Thara Buakumsri, a member of Greenpeace (Thailand), told the Gazette that the 55-meter vessel, carrying a multinational crew of 33, will arrive in the morning, tying up at…
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German manager held for theft of 5m baht
BANGKOK: Dirk Krebber, the 38-year-old German manager of Aqua Master (Thailand), a dive supply company in Patong, surrendered to police in Bangkok on Thursday to answer questions over the disappearance of five million baht from Aqua Master’s bank account. Sirikate Narin, the company’s assistant managing director, told the Gazette that shortly after a photograph of Krebber was shown on a…
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Phuket in drive to stop whale shark killings
PHUKET: A move to protect whale sharks in Thai waters has been started in Phuket after reports of whale shark killings were brought to the attention of the local office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). “TAT Phuket was informed by dive operators that they had witnessed whale sharks being hunted several times during their dive trips. The animals…
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900 ya bah pills seized as police nab 3 dealers
PHUKET TOWN: Police revealed today that they arrested a woman and two men on January 4 on charges of possession of ya bah with intent to sell. They also seized more than 900 pills of the drug with an estimated street value of around 135,000 baht. Pol Lt Passakorn Sootthikul, of the narcotics division of the Phuket Town Police Station,…
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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