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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Another drowning off Patong Beach
PATONG BEACH: A Thai tourist drowned yesterday while swimming in front of Patong’s Loma Park, Kathu police reported this afternoon. The tourist, 21-year-old Mana Kongpan from Phitsanulok, was swimming with a group of relatives when he disappeared. His body was found this morning in front of the Club Andaman hotel and was taken to Patong Hospital for autopsy.
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Major theft at Wachira Hospital
PHUKET: Police have issued a warning to patients visiting Phuket Town’s Wachira Hospital after a 73-year-old woman who went there for tests was robbed of valuables worth 500,000 baht. The woman, Khun Lamay Lakthan of Chaong, was asked to change into a hospital gown so that X-rays could be taken. A man she later described as being between 40 to…
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Use licensed cabs, airport warns after murders
BANGKOK, June 9 (AFP) – Bangkok airport authorities Wednesday warned travellers not to use unlicensed taxis following the apparent serial murders of six foreign tourists abducted from the terminal. “We are trying hard to make them understand to use licensed taxis or (regulated) limousines at the airport to avoid any trouble,” said Bangkok international airport director Wing Commander Uthai Thaisanthad.…
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Two arrested for trafficking in amphetamines
PHUKET TOWN: Police on Monday arrested two young men for trafficking in amphetamines (ya bah) after an undercover operation in which they pretended to be interested in buying some of the drug. In the home the two were renting in Soi 1, Samkong Village, officers found and impounded 150 amphetamine pills. Arrested were Suchert Nunthip, 20, a student at Rajaphat…
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Helicopter dash for 14-year-old mother
KOH YAO: The Police Aviation Division’s helicopter was in action again on June 5, picking up a young mother and her newborn baby from Koh Yao and delivering them to Phuyket Town’s Wachira Hospital. Dr Boonrieng Chuchaisangrat, head of the Phuket Health Office, was about to leave home for the opening ceremony of the Old Phuket Festival when the call…
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Thai officials linked to drugs
BANGKOK, June 7 (AFP) – More than a thousand Thai government employees are caught up in lucrative drugs trafficking, a senior minister admitted Monday. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Jurin Laksanavisit said 1,088 officials were involved in trafficking, most of them in the northeast and south of the country. “Most of the drug problem involves narcotics being smuggled in…
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Police arrest driver of truck carrying hardwood
THALANG: Police on Saturday arrested the driver of a truck carrying timber. The 10-wheel truck, registered in Nakhon Pathom, was stopped in the early hours of the morning at a road block in Tambon Mai Khao. In it, police found 230 pieces of hardwood, cut to size for window and door frames. The 34-year-old driver, unable to produce paperwork to…
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Reduced phone charges to US and Canada
PHUKET: The Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) has reduced call charges to Canada and the United States, including Hawaii, Khun Worawit Worapiboonpong, Chief of the Phuket Telecommunications Center, has announced. Reductions of up to 20% apply to all calls made from June 1, resulting in the following charges per minute: 5 am to 7 am, and 9 pm to midnight:…
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Egyptian held as police probe murder of tourists
BANGKOK, June 5 (AFP) – Thai police are questioning an Egyptian tour guide over the apparant serial killings of six foreign tourists slain soon after touching down at Bangkok airport, police said this afternoon. Chanam Said Muhamad, 35, was arrested in connection with the murder of a French tourist who disappeared nearly a year ago. And police believe they can…
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Tourist jumps to death from hotel roof
PHUKET TOWN: A 67-year-old Australian tourist leapt to his death yesterday evening from the roof of the City Hotel in the heart of Phuket Town. The tourist, John Newman Cleverley, had been coming to Phuket for 10 years, arriving alone and staying up to a month each time at the nearby Suksabai Hotel. Police said Mr Cleverley walked into the…
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Tourist claims rape by taxi driver
PATONG: The Governor of Phuket, Chadej Insawang, has ordered police to track down a motorcycle taxi driver accused of the rape of an American tourist last week. Police said the 28-year-old woman went out to look for a medicine. She stopped a motorcycle taxi in Soi Bangla and asked to be taken to a pharmacy. The driver went around in…
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Gazettes thrash Aussie Navy 31-15
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazettes rugby team was in fine form on Sunday when they met a team from the visiting Australian Navy ship HMAS Arunta for a 10-a-side clash at Dulwich College. Early in the game the Gazettes declared their intention to show the younger Australians how to play by opening the scoring. By half-time, they were ahead by two…
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Phuket’s “Great Mother 1999” announced
PHUKET: The best mum in Phuket is 67-year-old Sukanya Limsomboon, and that’s official. Khun Sukanya, who lives in Thanon Ranong in Phuket Town, has been chosen by the Bangkok-based Social Welfare Council to represent the island at a special ceremony on August 12, which is both HM Queen Sirikit’s birthday and Thai Mother’s Day. She was selected after her daughter-in-law…
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Governor opens King’s Cup Regatta office
CHALONG BAY: The Governor of Phuket, Chadej Insawang, officially opened the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta organizing committee’s permanent office in Chalong Bay on Saturday. At the opening, the committee announced that the 13th Phuket King’s Cup Regatta is scheduled to begin on Monday, December 6, 1999 off Ao Nang in Krabi and finish on Saturday, December 11, 1999 at Kata…
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264 hurt in crashes in Patong in April
PATONG: A total of 264 were injured in traffic accidents in the Patong area in April, of which 67, or 25%, were foreigners. There were no fatalities. Patong Hospital reported that 238 of the victims, or 90%, were riding motorcycles. Only 48 were wearing helmets. It added that 77, or about one one-third, of the injured were under the influence…
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Sea World project a dead duck for now
CAPE PANWA: Phuket’s ambition to build a major tourist attraction around its sea life has been put on hold, indefinitely. The original plan was to build a “Sea World”, costing about 1.5 billion baht, as a major tourist attraction. The centrepiece of the facility would have been a huge three-storey-high, 2-million-litre aquarium with a glass tunnel running through it, allowing…
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Sun Vista sinks off Malaysia
PENANG: The luxury cruise liner Sun Vista, a familiar sight in the waters off Phuket, sank at 1:22 this morning after its engine room caught fire yesterday. The 210-meter ship, which was en route to Singapore with 472 passengers and 632 crew, went down about 60 nautical miles south of Penang. The Gazette understands that everyone on board was rescued…
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Inferno yacht to be salvaged
PHUKET: The Head of the Harbour Master’s Office has told the Gazette that the wreck of the yacht Catalina, which burned and sank in Chalong Bay in March, will be salvaged. Khun Soontree Hirunwan said that following talks with a representative of the Catalina’s owners, a salvage company has been contracted to raise the wreck in the coming week. Following…
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Security guard returns 1.4 million baht to owner
PHUKET AIRPORT: Japanese visitor Mitsuru Yamaguchi is a lucky man. After arriving in Phuket on Saturday, the Hokkaido businessman mislaid his tote bag containing his passport, return ticket and the equivalent of 1.4 million baht in cash at the airport. And he got it all back, thanks to Aroon Sanghiran, a guard with Group A Security, which provides security for…
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Chicken wholesaler shot dead
PHUKET TOWN: Chicken farmer and wholesaler Yunud Kayankit was shot in the head in the garage of his Koh Kaew home early yesterday morning. He died in the emergency room at Wachira Hospital. Phuket Town Police told the Gazette that Khun Yunud, 31, was shot twice, once in the left cheek and once in the forehead, as he prepared to…
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Fisherman finds unidentified corpse
THALANG: A fisherman yesterday found the body of an unidentified man in the water near Baan Tah Chat Chai. Police said the dead man was Asian, dressed in brown trousers and shirt. They estimated his age at around 25 to 30 years, and his height at about 1.6 metres. The corpse carried no identification, but police believe he may have…
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Emergency helicopter saves sick islander
ANDAMAN SEA: A police helicopter from Phuket braved stormy weather earlier this week to rush a woman with acute appendicitis from Koh Yao Yai to hospital in Phuket Town. The woman, 35-year-old Khun Sukanya Jittanavee, was whisked from the island to Phuket’s Wachira Hospital on Tuesday for emergency surgery, thanks to a new initiative by the Phuket Provincial Health Office…
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Drivers advised to divert around sewerage work
PHUKET TOWN: Drivers are advised to avoid possible traffic jams caused by the laying of sewers on Mae Luan Rd (see yesterday’s story, below) by using Susan Rd, around the Sarakul Stadium. The diversion will be signposted. At a later stage, parts of Si Sena Rd, Si Suthat Rd, Amphoe Rd, Surin Rd, Luang Pho Rd, Wichit Songkram Rd and…
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Phuket prepares for regional sports contest
PHUKET TOWN: The local office of the Sports Authority of Thailand is currently putting together the squad to represent Phuket in the “Four Ages Sports Against Drugs” tournament in Songkhla between May 29 and June 2. Khun Wirat Visuttarom, head of the office, explained that the purpose of the tournament is to promote sport, to build relationships between various groups…
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Pipe work begins on wastewater treatment system
PHUKET TOWN: Traffic on Mae Luan Road is likely to be disrupted for about three months from next Monday (May 17) as pipe-laying work begins on the second phase of Phuket Town’s sewerage system. The excavations will extend from the offices of Phuket Prevention Guard Co to the junction with Wichit Songkram Road. Phase 1 of the project, which involved…
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Mountain hikes to resume
PATTANI PROVINCE: Local authorities here have decided to repeat their successful eco-hikes to the top of Sankalakiri Mountain, the highest peak in southern Thailand. Over the course of two days and one night, hikers will be guided through the forest and to the top of the mountain. From the summit, 1,300 metres above sea level, they can look down into…
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Governor urges tougher action against drugs
PHUKET TOWN: The Governor of Phuket, Chadej Insawang, has urged the Phuket Office of Narcotics Control to work harder to stamp out drug use on the island. At a meeting of the Narcotics Control Committee yesterday, the Governor said that although the spread of narcotics in Phuket was “moderate” he was very unhappy that it existed at all. He pointed…
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Advice on spotting funny money
PHUKET TOWN: Khun Chaiyos Chinda-Udomset, president of the Phuket Commercial Banks Association, has offered advice on how the public can identify forged 1,000- and 500-baht notes that are circulating in Thailand. He said the fake bills are printed on thinner paper than the real ones, and the surface of the paper is more slippery than that of genuine notes. In…
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Eleven dead of AIDS in past month
PHUKET TOWN: The government Health Office recorded 11 AIDS-related deaths in Phuket province during the month to April 20, and 30 new cases of full-blown AIDS. The new cases bring to 945 the number registered by the Phuket Provincial Health Department since it began keeping records of AIDS cases in January 1989. Of the 945 cases, 403 are, or were,…
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Bank officer testifies in Tong murder trial
PHUKET TOWN: The prosecution called a bank officer to the witness stand at the Phuket Provincial Courthouse today, in the resumption of the trial of five people charged in connection with the murder of businessman Danis Wayne Tong. Manit Panme, Prajuab Sukkong, Pairat Raksawong, Pratin Praktong and Belgian entrepreneur Hugo Vandervelde stand accused of taking part in a murder-for-hire scheme…
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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