South Thailand News
Southern Thailand news, Phuket news, Koh Samui news, and Krabi updates—stay informed on business, tourism, and local events from Trang, Songkhla, Yala, and beyond. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Southern Thailand news source.
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Sponsored How to reduce out-of-pocket medical expenses in Thailand?
Managing medical expenses in Thailand is important as healthcare costs continue to rise. The country’s healthcare system includes both public and private options, but even with the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) for citizens, many still face high out-of-pocket medical expenses....
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Volunteer village guard system in Thailand’s south up for review after Tuesday’s deadly attack
PHOTO: Facebook/Yala ToDay The village guard system, used as part of the local volunteer security in the Deep South of Thailand, is set to be completely reviewed, or replaced by a more mobile system where village defence volunteer units will be on regular patrol to seek insurgents, instead of being a “sitting duck”. 15 volunteers and villages were killed after…
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Two convicts recaptured after escaping Rayong police station
PHOTO: The Pattaya News In the wake of the daring escape from a Pattaya courtroom by three prisoners on Monday, The Pattaya News reports that another two convicts have managed to escape from a police station in Rayong, southern Thailand. It’s understood they have now been recaptured. The two prisoners are believed to have made their escape from the Nikom…
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Songkhla business man claims he was forced to sign dodgy drug test
PHOTOS: Sanook.com A Songkhla businessman is claiming that he was forced to sign a document admitting to using illicit drugs. 38 year old Somchai owns a banana business and is a special professor at the Songkhla Rajabhat University, and qualified electrical contractor, according to Sanook. Somchai and his lawyer faced the media this week and presented documents from Ramathibodi Hospital…
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Insurgents detonate car-bomb and fire at a security outpost in Pattani
PHOTO: Thai PBS World Southern insurgents have damaged eight vehicles in front of an old police station in Mai Kaen district in Pattani after detonating a car bomb. The incident happened last night in Thailand’s southern border province of Pattani. A security outpost in Yarang district was also under fire from a different group of suspected insurgents last night as well.…
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Army hunting man who shot dog with a spear gun in southern Thailand
A man who shot and seriously injured a dog with a spear gun is being hunted by army officers in Songkhla province, southern Thailand. The man is accused of shooting the dog twice, with the arrows piercing its liver and stomach. The “Smiledog Home Hatyai” Facebook page says the dog is named Mee Dum. Photo:Smiledog Home Hatyai It was…
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Whale freed by drilling team in Gulf of Thailand
On Saturday six drilling team members at Erawan offshore field spent about 30 minutes cutting a rope tied to the tail of a Bryde’s whale that apparently swam towards the structure seeking help, according to the Bangkok Post. The rope was believed to have been tied to its tail by fishermen after the whale became trapped in a net, but…
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Southern Thailand braces for rough weather and rain
The Thailand Meteorological Department issued a weather warning for southern Thailand with torrential rain forecast to hit the region throughout the weekend. The heavy monsoon over the Gulf of Thailand and south of the country is being blamed for the rough weather, with the TMD predicting flash flooding in many areas. (Phuket, Hat Yai and Hua Hin’s forecast below) “Waves are…
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Judge Kanakorn Pianchana, another victim of the southern insurgency
Five men were awaiting the judge to hand down his verdict. Charged with murder and facing either life imprisonment or a death penalty, or being acquitted. On October 4 Judge Kanakorn Pianchana, at the Yala Provincial Court, announced the five men were acquitted, in a 25 page document. What was to follow was both profound and tragic. The judge claimed, as…
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Thailand is facing “hybrid warfare” by “ill-intentioned politicians” – Army chief Gen Apirat
PHOTO: Screenshot – Matichon TV Thailand’s Army Commander-in-Chief Gen Apirat Kongsompong is warning that Thailand is facing what he described as a “hybrid warfare”. The ultra-loyalist Army chief says the ‘war’ is being waged by a collection of “ill-intentioned politicians”, remnants of communist ideologues and “foreign forces” against the country’s major establishments. His speech was aimed fairly and squarely at…
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Thai Army chief will address sedition charges and solving problems in South
The Thai Army chief General Apirat Kongsompong will deliver a speech at a seminar tomorrow (Thursday) to explain the armed forces’ role in providing security under current circumstances. This seminar is part of the Army’s PR effort to provide an official statement after it charged 12 people, including Opposition leaders and academics, of sedition. The sedition charges followed Opposition and academics…
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Police officer and local leader’s son arrested for drugs offences in southern Thailand
PHOTO: Bangkok Post A police officer and a local leader’s son have been arrested in a drugs raid on a house in Songkla, southern Thailand. The men were found in possession of 89 methamphetamine pills and 3.5 grams of crystal methamphetamine. A number of other items were also seized at the property, including drug paraphernalia and a pistol. The arrested…
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Special committee to investigate Yala judge suicide attempt
Photo montage: Bangla Tribune The Nation reports that a special panel will investigate the case of a judge in southern Thailand shooting himself in court, after he was allegedly made to change the verdict he handed down. The committee is expected to report back in 15 days, confirms deputy secretary-general of the Office of the Judiciary, Sarawut Benjakul. It’s understood…
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Outpouring of public support for Thai judge who shot himself in Yala court
“Return verdict to the judge, return justice to the people.” People have been placing fresh flowers in front of the Yala Provincial Court to show their support for Khanakorn Pianchana, the local judge who tried to kill himself last Friday in the court room after reading a verdict. Among the flowers message, a message reading “Return verdict to the judge,…
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Pheu Thai calls for urgent probe about alleged meddling in Yala’s judicial affairs
PHOTO: Bangla Tribune “Future Forward secretary-general Piyabutr Saengkanokkul claimed that he had received a 25 page document from the judge in September, alleging meddling by the chief judge of Region 9.” The Pheu Thai party is urging the government to investigate alleged meddling with the judiciary after a judge in the Yala provincial court shot himself on Friday in an…
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Judge forced to change “not guilty” verdict shoots himself in court in southern Thailand
A judge has shot himself in the chest at the provincial court in Yala, southern Thailand, after he was forced to change his verdict. Thai PBS World reports that Kanakorn Pianchana tried to kill himself following delivery of his verdict yesterday afternoon. It’s believed he is now out of danger and recovering in hospital. Meanwhile, Thai social media lit up…
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Dr. Thon pleads for dugong conservation plan
PHOTO: SCMP Thailand’s leading marine biologist is urging the Thai government to speed up conservation plans for the dugong, an imperiled sea mammal, aka. sea cow, after their death toll for the year in southern Thai waters has already climbed to a record 21. Dr. Thon Thamrongnawasawat says that the carcass of another deceased dugong was found this week off…
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Another dead dugong found off the coast of Trang
PHOTO: The baby dugong Mariam, who brought a lot of publicity to the plight of the local dugong population, died in August Another dead dugong has been discovered floating in the Andaman Sea, between Koh Ya in Trang and Koh Ngai Island in Krabi. The corpse was discovered yesterday by a local tour boat. It’s been a bad year for…
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Songkhla businessman shot dead while taking daughter to school
PHOTO: Assawin Pakkawan A building contractor has been killed while taking his four year old to school in Hat Yai yesterday. 34 year old Thammarat Apilimsiriul was taking his young daughter to pre-school in tambon Khon Hong around 7.30am when he was shot in the back. Police say he is the owner of Sirikul Land&House, a major construction company in…
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Arrest warrants issued over Saturday’s Songkhla 85 million baht gold robbery
PHOTO: Facebook/Persatuan Pemuda Pemudi Pattani The Na Thawi Provincial Court in Songkhla has issued arrest warrants for two men suspected to be involved in the 85 million baht gold shop heist on Saturday. Authorities have already linked the robbery to the southern insurgency claiming militants would sell the gold to finance operations. The warrants have now been issued for Wae-useng…
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Four beaches in Trang closed to swimming due to unsafe conditions
Officials from the Haad Chao Mai National Park have posted red flags along four popular Trang beaches to warn tourists against swimming because strong onshore winds were whipping up the waves to more than two metres in height. Haad Chao Mai National Park is a protected area located in the Sikao and Kantang Districts of Trang Province, Thailand. It is…
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60 million baht of gold stolen in Songkhla heist
Five people have robbed a gold shop in the city centre of Na Thawee district in Songkhla province yesterday (Saturday). The robbers were dressed in military uniforms and armed with assault weapons, fleeing with gold and jewellery valued around 60 million baht. According to the Thai PBS report, the five bandits arrived at the Suchada Gold Shop in a white…
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Scrap metal merchant arrested over stolen rail track pins causing train derailment
PHOTOS: Twitter@pr.railway A scrap metal shop owner has been arrested for stealing rail track ‘pins’ that were responsible for the derailment of a railway carriages heading south from Bangkok to Chumpon province yesterday. The derailment happened in the Phetchaburi province. The incident happened yesterday (Monday) just after midday and took the rest of the day and evening to lift the…
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Deputy PM scoffs at demands from southern insurgency group
FILE PHOTO Southern peace talks continue to go nowhere as demands from either side prevent meaningful discourse in the two decade-long border scuffle. In the latest salvo, the Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwon has scoffed at a demand by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, the most prominent of the southern insurgency groups, to release suspects in security cases before peace negotiations can…
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Train derails heading south from Bangkok
PHOTO: Chaiwat Satyaem Rail services between Bangkok and southern provinces were delayed yesterday after a passenger train jumped tracks in the Cha-am district of Phetchaburi province, about four hours south of the capital. There were no injuries reported. The incident happened around midday yesterday. The State Railway of Thailand reports that train 55 from Thonburi to Lang Suan station in Chumphon…
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Thai PM visits the South amid tight security
The Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha visited the southern border province of Yala yesterday (Thursday). During the visit, he opened the Southern Border Provinces Government Complex and the One Start One Stop for Development Centre, and met with local people amid tight security. Soldiers were assigned to keep a close watch for suspicious objects as well as people acting suspiciously at…
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Thai weather man issues rain warnings for south and east
The Thai Meteorological Department has issued a warning to residents of eastern and southern provinces to brace themselves for heavy rains until Sunday. In its warning, issued at 5am today, the department said the rains would be unleashed by influences of the southwest monsoon across the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, which is intensifying, and by a low-pressure…
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Thai Police Chief admits difficulties in solving last Friday’s bombings
“Suspects had provided some useful information but are still reluctant to disclose the rewards they were promised.” Thailand’s national police chief says that it has been difficult for investigators to track down the real masterminds behind the recent bombings and arson attacks in Bangkok and neighbouring Nonthaburi province. Police have arrested at least two people and held others in custody…
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17 year old killed after school bus careers off road in Chumpon, 18 injured
PHOTO: Facebook/Tongsiasiangtueng Rescue A bus crew has been killed after a tour bus travelling from Hat Yai to Bangkok for a mathematics competition ran off the road and hit a tree. The driver and 18 student were all injured. The bus ran off the main road in Chumpon, about half-way through the journey north. Police and foundation rescue workers headed…
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Thai police suspect southern insurgents in co-ordinated ATM explosions in Pattani
PHOTO: Charoon Thongnual Suspected insurgents have blown up three ATMs in two districts in the Southern Thai province of Pattani, near the Malaysian border. The assailants escaped with banknotes from one of the ATMs. At this stage local police and security officials suspect insurgents were responsible for the bombings, but are still considering if the incidents could have been related…
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Media reports Bangkok bomb suspects already detained – Thai PM says reports are false
Two men already detained by Bangkok metropolitan police confessed yesterday that they came from the south of the country to plant bombs in Bangkok, the Thai-language Khaosod reported. Photos of the two men appear the same as the two men detained early on Friday morning following the placement of a ‘fake’ bomb at the front of the Royal Thai Police…
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