Phuket News
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Senator seeks halt to dive shop arrests
PHUKET: According to several local dive shops, at least three tourists have suffered a somewhat ‘amazing’ experience over the past two weeks when tourist police accused them of being illegal divemasters, instructors, or guides. Two of them were Japanese unable to speak English. They were arrested and had to be bailed out, for 100,000 baht each, by the dive shop…
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Yacht owners may face tax evasion charges
PHUKET: The owners of three or more of the 11 yachts which were ‘arrested’ in Phuket last month may face tax evasion charges, said Yuttana Yimgarund, a chief inspector from the Thai Customs Department in Bangkok. He declined to divulge the names of the yachts or their owners. “We will have to wait for the owners to send us the…
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Belgian, struck twice, dies in motorcycle accident
CHALONG: A 43-year-old Belgian man, named by police as Carlo Webers, was killed in a traffic accident on Chaofa Nai Rd early yesterday morning. According to Pol Maj Thanate Poungmanee of Chalong Police Station, Mr Webers was riding a motorcycle into Phuket Town at around 1 am. He was near the Tang Luck restaurant when he was hit by a…
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Patong facing water rationing for monsoon season
PATONG: The Phuket Water Works is warning Patong residents that between now and October there will be less tap water available than usual for this time of year. According to Praphop Thongmon, manager at the water works, this is not because Phuket is suffering a drought. It is simply because the supply of water to be shared by Patong, Kata,…
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Hotel staff beaten up, hospitalized by undercover police
PATONG BEACH: Kathu Police Station is in the hot seat due to complaints of “unnecessary roughness” while five men were being arrested yesterday morning. The five are Piyapong Kwanmuang, 20, Sahakij Payakka, 19, Sarawuth Sang-ngern, 20, Wanchai Klingklao, 20, and Winai Sumpaothong, 19 — all employees of the Tara Patong Hotel. Areerat Choomchuay, deputy personnel manager of the hotel, told…
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Another student murdered in Phuket Town
PHUKET TOWN: Narongsak Korjanklang, 20, a student from Phuket Technical College, was gunned down on the street in the heart of Phuket Town at around midnight on Sunday (March 12). According to Orapin Tanrattanapitak, 19, who was Narongsak’s girlfriend, Narongsak was riding his motorcycle while she sat on the back. About 20 of their friends were riding alongside them on…
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New “hotel’ has little to offer tourists
PATONG BEACH: Although most Phuket residents and tourists visiting Patong are aware of the slum that has developed in the Patong Night Plaza (opposite Christin Massage on Rat-U-Thit Rd), few are familiar with the details of what transpires within. A website, https://www.hotelburma.com, has now been established to enlighten the curious. According to the website, the “Hotel Burma”, which it bills…
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Crew of hijacked tanker found
PHUKET: The crew of the hijacked Japanese tanker, the Global Mars, were found on an island off the coast of Phanga Nga Province on Friday after a 17-day ordeal at sea. The vessel, with 17 crew members – seven Koreans and 10 Burmese – left Port Klang in Malaysia on February 22, bound for the Indian port of Haldia with…
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Hitmen caught after getting cold feet
PHUKET TOWN: Three men from Trang were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly threatening the life of a 77-year-old woman who is a major land-owner in the Sam Kong area of Phuket Town. Somporn Paotong, 28, Wannarat Kamsoot, 26, and Soontorn Siripan, 24, were arrested at Nimit Circle on Ong Sim Pai Rd in Phuket Town as Somporn made a call…
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Kao Mai sued for election offenses
PHUKET TOWN: Ten of the 15 members of the Pattana Tongtin Party, which lost its domination of the Provincial Administrative Organization (OrBorJor) in elections on February 5, have filed charges against all 15 members of the winning Kao Mai Party. Somchai Meebangyang, the lawyer for Pattana Tongtin, said that the Kao Mai members had violated election laws in four ways:…
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Three masked robbers arrested
PHUKET TOWN: Three of the four masked robbers who held the owner of a grocery store and his family at gunpoint nine days ago were arrested yesterday afternoon. The robbers, dressed in rubber “ghost” masks, robbed the family in their store, near Suanluang Park, of 67,000 baht in cash and gold jewelry. The arrests were made in a police raid…
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Korean dies in traffic accident
BAAN MANIK: A South Korean thought to be working as a translator in Phuket was killed yesterday morning in a road accident on Sri Soontorn Rd, near the Heroines monument. Pol Capt Suwarit Prommool of the Thalang Police Station named the dead man as Yi Geen Wheng, 33. He said Mr Yi was driving west toward the monument when his…
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Speedboat flips, kills owner
KARON: Montri Chuernark, a 27-year-old boat-trip operator, was killed after his boat flipped over and he was hit by the propeller. He was the second person to be killed by a boat propeller in the Phuket area in just five days. Pol Capt Chana Sootthimat of Chalong Police Station told the Gazette that Montri had bought the second-hand speedboat two…
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TOT offers cut in phone installation fee
PHUKET: Residents of Thailand – Phuket included – have a chance this month to get a new phone line for 2,000 baht less than usual. To celebrate its 46th anniversary, the Telephone Organization of Thailand (TOT) will give a discount until the end of March on the installation fee for a fixed-line telephone. The installation fee has been reduced from…
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Fire destroys shops in Kata
KATA: Three small stores across from Kata Beach Resort were destroyed by fire yesterday morning. Pol Capt Chana Sootthimat of the Chalong Police Station told the Gazette that the fire started at about 9 am in a clothing store made of bamboo and galvanized iron. The fire quickly spread to an adjoining optical store and then further down to a…
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Boy, six, drowns in channel
NAI HARN: Thanat Massatool, a six-year-old boy from Koh Kaew, drowned in a water channel near Nai Harn Beach on Sunday. Pol Maj Sanae Panmee of Chalong Police Station said the accident took place at the south end of Nai Harn beach, where the channel connects Nong Harn pond and Nai Harn Beach. The boy and his family had been…
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Couple saved from insecticide suicide
CHALONG: A 65-year-old German resident and his 45-year-old Thai wife were rushed to Wachira Phuket Hospital on Friday evening after apparently attempting to kill themselves by spraying insecticide into their mouths. Pol Lt Pachai Muttayan of Chalong Police Station said that officers were called to an apartment block in Rawai. The caller reported that two people in the apartment seemed…
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Paiboon wins Senate seat
PHUKET: Paiboon Upatising won election on Saturday as Phuket’s representative in Thailand’s Senate. K. Paiboon received 51,059 votes, just 3,290 votes ahead of Chaiwat Narukatpichai, managing director of the Phuket Arcadia Hotel and Resort. Trailing in third place was Dr Sirinit Ratanadilok Na Phuket, with only 8,435 votes. Of Phuket’s 168,356 eligible voters, 132,801 (or 78.86%) voted in the election,…
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FantaSea to build theme park in Langkawi
PHUKET: Pin Kewpaisal, president and CEO of Phuket Fantasea, has revealed that Dr Mahathir Mohamed, Prime Minister of Malaysia, has asked him to build a new theme park in Langkawi, and he has agreed. In an interview with Tansettakit newspaper, K. Pin said that he had already had two conferences with Dr Mahathir to discuss the Prime Minister’s plan. K.…
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Dulwich students hospitalized
KOH KAEW: Two students from Dulwich International College ended up in Phya Thai Hospital this morning with serious diarrhea after attending a dinner party at the school last night. The dinner was part of the festivities surrounding the FOBISSEA sports tournament, which this year took place at Dulwich, and which involved students from all over Asia. Dr Jesada Chaikunrat, preventive…
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Gazettes maul US Navy 42-28
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Gazettes rugby team once more overwhelmed the team from the American flotilla led by the USS Blue Ridge yesterday, at Surakhul Stadium, finishing with a scoreline of 42-28. They could not claim all the glory, however; a shortage of players meant the Gazettes had to borrow several men from the other side to make up their…
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Masked men rob grocery store
PHUKET: Three robbers, all wearing ghost masks, robbed a grocery store off Chao Fa Nai Rd near Suanluang Park last night, taking 67,000 baht in cash and gold jewelry belonging to the owner and his family. Pol Maj Winai Kongkaew of the Phuket Town Police Station said that Witoon Pinta, 35, the owner of the grocery store in a camp…
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City bus service “to start next month’
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Town’s first real bus service – originally scheduled to start in May last year and then postponed to January this year – is expected finally to be up and running some time in April. Introduction of the service has been delayed because PB Holdings, the bus operator, was not able to find 26 buses of the right…
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Death sparks “dangerous road’ warning
KATA: Police have warned about the dangers of the road outside the Marine Cottage resort after a 22-year-old motorcyclist, Supit Kaminkaew, died there on Sunday afternoon, after she was run over by a bus. Supit is the fifth person to die on that stretch of road in the past few months. Pol Capt Chana Sootthimat of Chalong Police Station said…
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THAI domestic fares to rise 13pc
PHUKET: Thai Airways International (THAI) is to raise fares for all domestic flights by about 13% on April 20. The one-way airfare for the Phuket-Bangkok service will be raised by 13.5% from 2,000 baht to 2,270 Baht for economy class, and by 10.8% from 2,770 baht to 3,070 baht for business class. The hike was originally approved by THAI’s Board…
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PhoneNET cards offer up to 30pc discount
PHUKET: Between now and June 30, holders of PhoneNET cards in Phuket can take advantage of a new discount of up to 30% on calls to 27 countries around the world. Worawit Worapibulpong, chief of the office of telecommunication services at the Communication Authority of Thailand (CAT) in Phuket Town, explained that the 500-baht cards may be used with every…
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12 die in bus crash
KANCHANABURI (AFP) – Twelve Thais were killed and eight seriously hurt when a tour bus traveling to a Buddhist temple near the border with Burma plunged into a deep ravine, police said today. The bus, carrying 45 mainly elderly people from Bangkok, left the road and plunged 50 meters before coming to a stop in Kanchanaburi province’s Sangkla district early…
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CAT to hike prices for EMS delivery
PHUKET: The Communication Authority of Thailand (CAT) is to raise the charges for domestic deliveries by its Express Mail Service (EMS) with effect from Wednesday. For mail weighing less than 20 grams, the fee will be increased from 15 to 20 baht. For mail between 20-100 grams, the fee will be increased from 17 baht to 25 baht. For those…
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Burmese boys escape detention center
PHUKET TOWN: Three Burmese boys escaped from the Juvenile Observation and Protection Center near Saphan Hin early yesterday morning. Two were recaptured within hours but the third is still at large. The escape, according to Pongsura Krainara, the center’s chief, took place at around 6 am when the three boys were detailed to help a guard at the center carry…
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11 die in helicopter crash
KANCHANABURI (AFP) – A Thai army helicopter crashed in western Kanchanaburi province today, killing at least 11 people, including seven senior officers, an army spokesman said. Maj Gen Sanchai Rachtawan, commander of Ninth Army division, was among the top army officers who died, along with two pilots and two technicians. Army Lt Gen Lertrat Ratanavanich said the aircraft went down…
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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