South Thailand News
Stay updated with the latest Southern Thailand news at The Thaiger, your ultimate source for regional information. Keep informed on local events, business developments, and lifestyle stories in popular locations beyond Phuket, Koh Samui, and Krabi. We’ve got reports of the latest goings on in Trang, Songkhla, Yala, and more.
Whether you’re a resident or a visitor, The Thaiger’s Southern Thailand news page is your essential guide to exploring this stunning tropical region. Dive into the vibrant community and rich culture with our expertly curated content, designed to keep you connected and well-informed.
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Sponsored Infinito helps hotels in Thailand with revenue management
Maximising revenue and profit–isn’t that the ultimate goal for every business in the hospitality industry? If you run a hotel, you might have heard that revenue management is an effective way to boost your top-line revenue. It involves using data...
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The man who wrote the bad reviews for Koh Chang’s Sea View Resort has a criminal record
In the ongoing stoush between the American, Wesley Barnes, and Koh Chang’s Sea View Resort, the story is now reaching way beyond Thailand’s borders, being reported in mainstream media around the world. Much of the media discussion has focused on whether it is appropriate to be able to sue people over a bad review with criminal defamation. Defamation is a…
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Bride and groom shot in Nakhon Si Thammarat wedding
Four people have been killed during a Nakhon Si Thammarat wedding reception in the Tham Phannara district. One other person was seriously injured in the hail of bullets. Local police report that the incident occurred around 11pm on the road outside the house where the reception was being held in the Dusit tambon village. Two of the dead people were…
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Koh Chang resort sues American over bad review
A Koh Chang resort is fighting back and, reportedly, suing an American citizen after posting a nasty online review on TripAdvisor. After recently visiting the Sea View Resort on Trat province island in the Gulf of Thailand, American Wesley Barnes wrote an unflattering, almost bitchy, account of his stay prompting the owner to file an official complaint over the ‘unfair’…
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Mother allegedly kills 3 year old daughter in Surat Thani
A mother allegedly slashed her 3 year old daughter’s throat in Surat Thani’s Phun Phin district. The child was sleeping beside her at their rubber plantation home. Police say they found the child dead on the mattress, soaked in blood. They say the child’s throat had a deep cut. 43 year old Bupha Yuensuk admitted to the murder, police say.…
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Monkeys castrated after causing chaos in Songkhla
Monkeys have become so much of a problem in Songkhla that officials have decided to castrate them. The monkeys relied on food from tourists visiting Khao Tang Kuan Hill, also known by some as “Monkey Mountain.” But since there have been no tourists for months, the monkeys have made their way into the city looking for food. A similar project…
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Body found floating by Khanom fishing pier
A man’s body was found floating by a Khanom fishing pier in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat today. Police say the man looked to be about 25 to 30 years old. They say the man was wearing pants, a black T-shirt and shoes. No identification was on the man and police are investigating. No wounds were reported on the…
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Tuk tuk driver shot multiple times by rival driver in Songkhla
A Songkhla tuk tuk driver is in critical condition after a rival driver allegedly shot the man multiple times for taking his customers. 40 year old Chaowalit Phuthaksin allegedly shot the driver 9 times from behind just as the driver was calling out to potential customers. When police arrived to the scene, they found 40 year old Sao Phuangthong on…
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Tourists flock to Sichon temple, worship a spirit known for granting wishes
Thai tourists destinations have gone quiet due to the pandemic, but one southern Thailand temple is thriving. Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Wat Chedi is known for granting wishes, and apparently many come true (although people don’t tend to talk about the ones that don’t come true). It is packed with visitors not just on the weekends, but every day. Visitors worship Ai Khai, the…
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Ships want a shortcut: Studies to start on Thai canal and land bridge
Thailand could actually sliced in half by a canal right across the Malay Peninsula, linking the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. Proposals have been in the works for hundreds of years, but now the idea is popping up again, and alternatives, as shipping companies try and find ways to cut their costs. The Thai government plans to hold…
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Monkeys take over Songkhla home while family away for holiday
Monkeys took over a Songkhla home in Southern Thailand while a family was away during the 4 day long weekend holiday. Monkeys were on the roof, in the trees and on the fence while trash was scattered across the yard and driveway. Luckily, the monkeys couldn’t get inside the home (although we bet they tried). Monkeys frequent the area near the…
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2 insurgents killed, 4 ranger injured in Songkhla clash
Rangers have shot and killed 2 suspected insurgents in the latest clashes in Thailand’s Deep South, this time in Songkhla’s Chana and Thepha district last night. Police and soldiers headed to the area after receiving reports that 4 insurgents were in the ares and travelling on 2 motorcycles. The suspects dispersed as the police and soldiers arrived. 3 separate clashes followed.…
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Foreign tourist dies after falling from cliff at Ranong waterfall
A tourist from Uzbekistan has died after slipping from a cliff edge while taking a photograph in the southern province of Ranong. The man, named in a Nation Thailand report as Soipov Abdullokh, was visiting Ngao Waterfall National Park with 5 Russian tourists. Ngao Waterfall National Park is between Ranong and Chumpon in Southern Thailand. The incident happened around 1.00pm…
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Songkhla pageant ends in shambles, contestant accuses judges of fixing scores
A beauty pageant came under fire after 10 contestants were all declared the winners, ending the Miss Samila 2020 early after a contestant accused the judges of rigging the scores. The 10 finalists split the 200,000 baht of prize money and the top 5 contestants got an extra 10,000 baht. A good deal for those who would’ve lost, bad for those who…
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Southern Thailand insurgents ambush police vehicle
A group of insurgents allegedly shot up a police vehicle while it was travelling in the southern province Narathiwat, which borders Malaysia. 50 bullet casings were found on the ground after the ambush. Luckily, the 5 police officers, including the province’s deputy police chief, were not injured. The police vehicle was equipped with bullet proof windows and the body of…
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Body found with gunshot wound, police open murder investigation
Police have opened a murder investigation after a man’s body was found in a drain in the southern province Nakhon Si Thammarat, southern Thailand. He had a gunshot wound to his head and officers say he was shot from a close range. His hands were found handcuffed behind his back. A local was fishing at the Tha Rua-Hua Trud canal…
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Gunfire exchange kills alleged drug dealer, injures 3 police
An alleged drug dealer was killed and 3 police officers were injured in a gunfire exchange this morning. Police say 46 year old Udom Rattanamanee, who was killed, and his wife Areeya Panthip were allegedly major drug dealers in Phuket. Around 8am this morning, police went to Udom’s house in the southern province Nakhon Si Thammarat with arrest warrants for…
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Songkhla fisherman found murdered in lake house
A man in the southern Songkhla province was shot dead at a house on stilts in the middle of Songkhla Lake in the small hours of this morning. A Singha Nakhon police duty officer says he was informed of the incident at about 3:40am. Officers were sent to the scene to investigate. Police found the body of the man lying…
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Surat Thani forest ranger found dead
A member of the local forest patrol, who had gone missing after his boat struck a stump near the Ratchaprapha dam in the southern province of Surat Thani, was found dead yesterday. Thanakorn Chana-aksorn, from the Khlong Ya forest protection unit, is suspected to have suffered head injuries from the impact of the crash and subsequently drowned in the incident…
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Democrat MP gets 2 years in prison for vote buying
Both Democrat MP Thepthai Senpong and his brother have been sentenced to 2 years in prison for election fraud. If the verdict is upheld by a higher court, Thepthai would be banned from politics for the next decade. The Court found Thepthai and his brother Manote guilty of vote buying. Thai PBS says the illegal bribes took place at a…
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2 Koh Tao divers awarded for their involvement in the 2018 cave rescue
2 foreign diving instructors in Koh Tao were honored for their role in rescuing the 13 young men from the flooded Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai back in 2018. More than 100 foreigners involved in the rescue have been granted the Most Admirable Order of Direkgunabhorn, an award granted by the Thai Monarch. A ceremony in Surat Thani was…
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Thai immigration police arrest foreigners with fake IDs
Thai immigration officials have arrested 2 Pakistani men who were using fake Thai identification cards. Now the officers have opened an investigation to see if more foreigners might be connected to the case and are living in Thailand with a fake ID. Immigration officials in Pattani, in the far south of Thailand, were recently tipped off about a foreigner with…
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Murder suspect captured after motorbike crash
Police in the southern province of Surat Thani say a man with 3 arrest warrants, 1 each for for murder, attempted murder and robbery, was caught after a motorcycle incident in the early hours of this morning in the city’s central district. The Surat Thani police chief said that at about 12.10am a motorcycle ran off the road at a…
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Grandmother sentenced for pimping granddaughter
A grandmother in Thailand’s South has been given a 55 year prison sentence for offering her 14 year old granddaughter for sex to a local politician. The Foundation for Children, Youth and Families announced yesterday that the court handed the sentence to the defendant, identified as Sakol Phodee, on Wednesday. Chuwit Jantaros, secretary-general of the foundation said the court found…
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Pattani company turns marine debris into new shoes
Flip flops, sandals, thongs, whatever you want to call them, are often seen washed up on beaches along with plastic bags and bottles. Those old, forgotten shoes are being transformed into new flip flops by a Pattani company called Tlejourn, a Thai phrase meaning “wandering across the sea.” Using old sandals found on the beach, Tlejourn cleans and shreds them…
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Feud between rival Surat Thani families kills 1, injures 3
A violent altercation between 2 feuding families has left 1 man dead and another 3 injured, in the southern province of Surat Thani. A report in Nation Thailand says that following reports of a confrontation at a property in the sub-district of Bang Sawan, police arrived at the house to find the body of a man named only as Jaran.…
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Surat Thani murder suspect nabbed after 12 years
The prime suspect in a Surat Thani murder investigation has been arrested after 12 years on the run, in the western Kanchanaburi province. Police from the Crime Suppression Division arrested 77 year old Sakol Wichaidit today, in the parking lot in front of Sangkhlaburi Hospital. He was subseqently transferred to central district police station in Surat Thani. The arrest follows…
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Trang teen kills mother and brother, Buri Ram man kills nephew
A teenager in Southern Thailand allegedly shot and killed his mother and brother before killing himself yesterday. In another case in Northeast Thailand, a man allegedly stabbed and killed his nephew Sunday night. In Trang, the mother and her 14 year old son were found in bed with gunshot wounds. The suspected shooter, a 16 year old boy, was found…
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4 suspected insurgents shot dead in Pattani
Further to a story published yesterday by The Thaiger, a total of 4 suspected insurgents are now reported to have been shot dead in separate firefights in the southern Pattani province on Friday evening and Saturday morning, as security forces close in on a fifth suspect. The first clash followed an earlier gunfight in which 3 soldiers were wounded while…
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2 year old in ICU after being left in scorching school van
A 2 year old boy remains on life support after he was left alone in a sweltering hot school van outside a childcare centre in southern Thailand. Thanakit “Nong Kongbin’’ Yodmanee is being treated in an ICU at a Hospital in Nakhon Si Thammarat. He was rushed to the hospital earlier in the week after he was found unconscious in…
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2 bombing suspects dead, 3 soldiers wounded in Pattani shootout
2 suspected insurgents allegedly involved in Thursday’s bombings in Pattani’s Nongjik district, which killed 2 security officers and injured 3 others, were killed in a shootout yesterday in the southern province’s Yaring district. 3 more soldiers were wounded. The clash erupted in Buenaejuerae village in tambon Kolam where a combined team of soldiers, police and local officials were patrolling, according…
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