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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33 cats mauled to death at Hat Yai temple
“The animals were apparently tranquillised and so were helpless when attacked by the dogs.” Police in Hat Yai have been hunting for the driver of a pick-up truck seen dropping off 36 cats at a temple yesterday before 33 of them were mauled to death by stray dogs. A villager filed a complaint with police after finding the 33 cat…
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Man marries Thai ladyboy without ‘checking gender’
PHOTO COMPOSITE: Thai Rath A Danish man has married a Thai ladyboy without doing a full ‘due diligence’ on the gender of his future spouse. But things seems to have worked out anyway. Thai Rath has reported on a marriage ceremony in Thailand’s south last Saturday where the groom was a man from Denmark and the bride was a man…
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Pregnant dugong killed by boat propellor
by Khanitta Sitong A heavily-pregnant dugong, found off Koh Libong in Trang a week ago, has had an autopsy to investigate the cause of death. It was the fifth dugong in the area killed by speedboats this year. The findings indicate that this dugong too came into contact with a local boat propellor. The dugong’s decomposing carcass was found on…
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Dead man washed up on Nakhon Si Thammarat beach
The decomposed body of a man has washed up onto a beach in Nakhon Si Thammarat. Police said the unidentified body was spotted on the shores of the beach in Moo 9 village in Tambon Na Saton in Hua Sai district on Saturday morning. Police say the man appears to have been dead for about a week and the body…
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Mother killed by moving train, 2 year old daughter survives
A mother and her 2 year old daughter fell from a train at a station in Nakhon Si Thammarat. The mother died while the girl survived with minor injuries. The incident took place at the Klong Chandee railway station at 10am this morning. Police say 21 year old Benjawan Duangsuwan died at the scene. Her daughter was sent to Por Than…
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Surat Thani monk arrested over molestation allegations
Surat Thani police have served an arrest warrant on a 35 year old monk at the Wat Dang Nai. Sanook is reporting that Phra Mongkhon faces charges of molesting under 15 year old boys. The arrest of the monk follows an official complaint made by a parent to police back in April who claimed her 13 year old son had…
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Drugs-in-book being sent to Phuket, seized in Songkhla
PHOTO: Hatyai Police A man has been arrested in Hat Yai, Songkhla trying to smuggle crystal methamphetamine inside a book in a parcel bound for Phuket. Hat Yai Police have arrested 31 year old Preawpan Tamakunapohn at a hotel in Hat Yai. He was found with three bags of crystal methamphetamine totaling 82.31 grams. One bag was found in his…
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Dead dugong found in Trang sent to Phuket
PHOTOS: DMCR A dugong has been found dead in the sea off Trang province. The body was sent to Phuket for further examination. Jatupohn Burutpat, director-general of the Department of Marine and Coastal says, “the dead dugong was found in the sea near Koh Libong in Trang.” “It was a female dugong, 2 metres long and weighing 250 kilograms. No…
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Two shot dead at a Pattani market place – Southern insurgency
The southern insurgency, never out of the news for more than a week, has claimed two more lives in the southern provinces. Two defence volunteers have been fatally shot at a shopping market place in the Kapor district of Pattani province yesterday. Police believe that southern militants were behind the brazen close-range attack. The two victims, identified as Supote Phonpala…
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Southern Muslim leaders disapprove of LGBT partner bill
“Only in the South has our public forum on the Life Partnership Bill heard opposition.” Muslim leaders in Thailand’s South have rejected the proposed Life Partnership Bill, which would allow LGBT couples to marry. The Nation reports that, if the bill becomes law, the religious leaders say they will not perform marriage rituals for LGBT couples. No religious leader is…
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18 children dead as officials try to fight vaccine denial – Measles outbreak
“Young kids should avoid known infected areas, and patients should be quarantined.” Measles has now infected 2,280 people in the South and killed 18 in the mainly Muslim border provinces already this year. The largest group affected were young children up to the age of four. “Measles vaccination is free and is in line with Islamic principles,” Songkhla’s public-health chief…
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Weather warning issued for Phuket and the South
Residents of 10 southern provinces are being warned to brace for severe weather conditions due to heavy rains throughout today from the influence of the remnant storm Toraji. Now downgraded to an active low-pressure cell, Toraji covers the lower South and is expected to move through the Andaman Sea today, said the Meteorological Department in its 13th warning about the…
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Cabinet agrees to bail out rubber planters and tappers
The Cabinet has approved in principle to pour 18.6 billion baht in aid packages to help the beleaguered rubber plantation owners and rubber tappers. The rubber industry says they’re being affected by falling rubber prices. Under the aid package, according to Thai PBS, the government will offer a handout of 1,800 baht for each rai of rubber plantation but not…
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Muslim leader rules measles vaccine ‘not prohibited’ by Islam
The Chularajamontri in Yala, Thailand’s Islamic spiritual leader, has made an unofficial ruling that Muslims can receive measles vaccine. Ahmad Abdull Hazima, the Islamic leader in Yala, said the Chularajamontri and 39 provincial Islamic committees have made unofficial rulings that vaccines are not prohibited by Islam. The rulings were sought after an ongoing outbreak of measles in four southern border…
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Narathiwat officials swing into action to combat deadly measles outbreak
by Narong Nuansakul The southern province of Narathiwat is stepping up vaccinations against measles as the disease has already claimed up to twelve lives in Yala and Pattani since June this year. A huge number of youngsters aged between one and five in Yala and Pattani have come down with measles in recent months, claiming the lives of 12 children.…
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Koh Tarutao archipelago is plastic-free
Tarutao Islands National Park has been declared as an area free of plastic and styrofoam containers for the current tourist season. Assistant Park Director Kittipong Sanui said during the launching ceremony of Satun Andaman Tourism Season that the Department of Natural Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation has imposed a ban on the use and import of once-used plastic and styrofoam…
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10 children have died from southern measles outbreak
The measles outbreak in Yala has worsened with 859 children now having been infected and the death toll standing at 10 cases, Betong district health official Wongwit Akarawarothai said on Tuesday. Wongwit joined other health officials in knocking on doors to have people in Ban Na Kor (Moo 9) in Tambon Ai Yer Weng vaccinated, resulting in 75 children under…
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Man shot dead in a krathom brew party
A man has been shot dead in Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Chulabhorn district after a dispute broke out during a ‘krathom brew drinking party’ early today. The victim, identified as 29 year old Sathit Changnam was shot 11 times all over is body. Several spent shells of 9mm pistol bullets were found at the scene – a shophouse in Moo 4…
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Storm forces Army helicopter into emergency landing
FILE PHOTO: Bell Helicopters 212 of the Royal Thai Army at Khon Kaen An Army helicopter flying senior military officers from Surat Thani to Ranong provinces has been forced to make an emergency landing in Chumphon this morning because of a thunderstorm cell that developed quickly along the route. The Bell 212 helicopter encountered sudden heavy rains, forcing it to…
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Northern temperatures to drop 3-5 degrees Celsius
OK, so we’ve exaggerated a bit. Mercury in Thailand’s north is set to drop another 3-5 degrees from tomorrow until Friday. Meanwhile southern regions are facing forecast rains and isolated heavy rain in some areas. The Thai Meteorological Department says another strong cold front out of China is looming south to cover the upper regions of Thailand from October 30-November…
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New Thai Army Commander visits Pattani
The new Royal Thai Army Commander has paid a visit to the troubled southern region. He’s met with local security agencies who met with him at Sirindhorn Camp in Pattani province, as well as meeting with religious leaders in an effort to continue the peace initiatives undertaken by his predecessor. Royal Thai Army Commander Gen Apirat Kongsompong has led a delegation…
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Religious tolerance is OK until it starts interfering with community health
Last week it was revealed that six children have died in the southern provinces of Thailand since June this year. Sadly, children die all the time through misadventure and incurable disease. But these six children died from Measles, one of the many diseases that have been brought under control in most communities over the past half century. Vaccination has also…
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Heavy rain in spots around the country until Monday
Residents in the Central, East and the South, including Bangkok and suburbs, are being warned to brace themselves for heavy rains from tomorrow until Monday. In a first warning issued at 11am this morning, the TMD (Thai Meteorological Department) said that heavy rains would hitting the forecast areas due to a low-pressure cell over the lower South China Sea. They…
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Pattani policeman’s house attacked by southern insurgents
Southern insurgents have attacked the house of a policeman in Pattani’s Nong Chik district with assault rifles and a molotov cocktails late last night. Police say it’s lucky that no one was injured in the attack. Pol Senior Sgt Maj Anusorn Khantikulanon, an official of the training division of Provincial Police Bureau 9, and his wife were not home. Their…
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Escaped prisoner trio recaptured in Chumphon
Three inmates who took advantage of a lapse in security, escaping from a court in Chumphon on Thursday, have been recaptured this morning in Chumpon. Police say the three were hiding on a mountain in a forest near by Huay Kla village in Tambon Tako in Chumphon’s Sawi district for the past two days. They went down to the village…
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Baby elephant Chao Duan dies, 13 days after falling it pit
A two year old male elephant, nicknamed Chao Duan, died earlier today from his injuries, 13 days after veterinarians tried to save it after it fell into a pit in Chumphon. Nam Tok Ngao National Park head Somjet Chanthana said the young elephant died at 4am. It was rescued from a muddy pit in the forest near Ban Chanren in…
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Three border police wounded in Narathiwat attack
by Narong Nuansakul Three border patrol police officers have been injured after being fired on in a gun attack by two suspected insurgents while returning to their base in Narathiwat’s Rusoh district yesterday morning (Thursday). Police deputy inspector Captain Marut Nilkosi visited the scene at Ban Manang Panyang (Moo 1) in Tambon Samakkhee. Officers collected around 20 spent AK-47 and…
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Suspected insurgent killed during Songkhla shootout
A suspected insurgent was shot dead in Songkhla’s Thepha district early today (Monday) after Army troops, rangers and police joined forces to try to arrest the man. The operation at 1am in Moo 3 village in Tambon Sakom also resulted in the arrest of two other suspected insurgents. Police identified the slain suspect as 40 year old Hamadaho Semsun who…
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School director ambushed in Pattani
The director of a school in Pattani’s Panareh district escaped an ambush by four suspected insurgents this morning, police said. The director, Thawil Sae-ham, was driving to Ban Nam Bor School when he was attacked by four men on two motorcycles on the main road of Moo 3 village in Tambon Phor Ming. Thawil said both pillion riders fired AK-47…
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Baby elephant rescued from muddy pit in Chumpon
by Prasit Leehakhunakorn A two year old male elephant, ‘Chao Duan’, has been rescued after it fell into a 70 centimetre deep and four metre wide muddy pit where it was stuck for two days in Chumphon province. The elephant is now recovering under the loving care of veterinarians, although its hind legs remain immobile for now. Nam Tok Ngao…
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