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 A healthy tomorrow starts today: Celebrate the great American Smokeout day
The Great American Smokeout, held this year on November 17, is a nationwide event that encourages smokers to take their first steps towards a smoke-free life. If you’re an expat in Thailand, this day could be a timely reminder to...
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Yala enters lockdown today
Yala, a southern Thai province just north of the Malaysian border, is entering a lockdown from today until at least July 7. The lockdown is hoped to control the latest surge of new Covid cases. Yala’s Provincial Governor, Chaisit Panitpon, has imposed measuress to ensure people can’t get in or out of the Yala province. “If everyone follows the measures, I…
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Missing fisherman’s body found in sea off Nakhon Si Thammarat
2 days ago a local fisherman went missing. Today, his body has been located floating in the ocean in the Khanom district, an area in the southern province Nakhon Si Thammarat. His family has positively identified the body as belonging to 57 year old Sang Tenphusa. They say he was an experienced angler. Reportedly, Sang had gone out fishing off…
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Songkhla officials investigate pricey street lamps
Officials in Hat Yai, a city in the southern province of Songkhla, are investigating whether they paid too much money for street lamps. Reportedly, this the third such allegation made toward a local administration in Thailand… This month. The new Hat Yai mayor, Sakhon Thongmunee, has ordered a panel to be established after he got the news that an administrative…
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More details uncovered in billionaire couple’s Koh Tao death
Details are emerging on the tragic drowning death of a billionaire hotel owner and his wife in Koh Tao last week as police investigate further. Along with a more detailed picture of the events of the day, a few inconsistencies emerged from the original information as the story broke, including a time gap between the first shouts of trouble were…
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Bodies of couple who died at a Koh Tao pool sent to police hospital for autopsies
Medical examiners at the Police General Hospital will do an autopsy on the bodies of the billionaire couple who were both found dead in a resort pool on Koh Tao, an island in the Gulf of Thailand off the Surat Thani coast. The results on the cause of death will be released in around 2 weeks, Koh Tao police chief…
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UPDATE: Billionaire couple found dead at bottom of Koh Tao resort pool
The owner of a 5 star hotel in Phuket and his wife were found dead at the bottom of their hotel swimming pool on the island of Koh Tao on Friday afternoon. Police received the initial report at 4.45pm on Friday. The island off the Surat Thani province coast has gained notoriety after a string of suspicious and sensationalised deaths…
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Police arrest suspect who allegedly sold assault rifles stolen from military base
Officers in Thailand’s Deep South have arrested a man for allegedly selling assault rifles that were stolen from a military base in Narathiwat, a province by the Malaysian border with ongoing violence from the religious separatist insurgency. 6 out of the 26 AK102 assault rifles stolen from the the 4th Army Area base have been found. Earlier reports said 28 assault…
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Investigation over Hat Yai woman’s death after vaccine
An investigation has begun into the death of a woman in Hat Yai who died 2 weeks after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine to see if the death was related to the jab. A friend had suggested the possibility of a negative reaction due to the birth control pills the woman was taking combined with the vaccine, as blood clotting is…
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Health officials checking for additional cases of South African variant in South
Samples taken from Covid-19 patients in southern Thailand are being tested to check for the highly-contagious, so-called South African variant. Supphakit Siriluck from the Medical Science Department says so far, the variant has only been found in Narathiwat province, but samples from patients in Songkhla and Phatthalung are also being analysed. Supphakit says that at the moment, the world is…
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Over 2 dozen assault rifles missing from military base in Narathiwat
A military base in the deep south province of Narathiwat, discovered 28 AK-102 automatic rifles were missing. The rifles were first noticed missing on May 18 from the 2nd Narathiwat Territorial Defence Company, located in tambon Kamphu. The next day Mayusor Kudae, the assistant chief, filed a complaint with local police against those whom he believed were responsible for the…
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Southern Thailand: Wet weather forecast from tropical cyclone Yaas
Heavy rain to very heavy rain is forecast for Southern Thailand from today until the end of the week. The rain, and the bad weather, is coming from the north-moving Tropical Cyclone “Yaas”, which is currently situated over the Bay of Bengal, south of Bangladesh and heading for landfall on the Indian coast. “Yaas” is heading in a North/Northwesterly direction…
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Villages in southern Thailand closed off due to cases of South African variant
Health officials in the southern province of Narathiwat have sealed off 9 villages after 3 confirmed cases of the Covid-19 variant first detected in South Africa. Opas Karnkawinpong from the Disease Control Department says the villages in the Tak Bai district have been closed off to prevent the virus spreading further in the province. The district sits across the Kolok…
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Pediatrician says lucky 1 month old baby has recovered from Covid-19
A pediatrician is saying a 1 month old baby is incredibly lucky after recovering from the Covid-19 virus in Surat Thani province. Infectious disease doctor Suchada Ruenglerdpong says the baby boy was the youngest patient in the Prachuap Khiri Khan Hospital. He allegedly contracted the virus from a family member who was infected at a funeral cluster in the province.…
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Norwegian-flagged ship with 6 Covid-19 infections off Songkla
A Norwegian-flagged ship is currently floating off the coast of Songkla in the south of Thailand with 6 crew members infected with Covid-19. The offshore support vessel is named the Boa Deep C and is currently anchored near Ko Nu Island and awaiting further instructions. A spokesman for the Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Centre confirmed that the boat has been…
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Bizarre final calls of 2 Southern insurgents killed in standoff
The bizarre final moments are coming to light of 2 insurgents in the south of Thailand that were killed in a standoff after shooting a member of the Thai paramilitary forces. The pair shot the soldier and then retreated to a shack made of corrugated metal while security forces tried to convince them to surrender. But during that time the…
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Suspected insurgent killed in gunfire exchange with rangers in Thailand’s deep south
A suspected insurgent was shot and killed in a gunfire exchange with Thai rangers in Narathawit, a province in Thailand’s deep south by the Malaysian border plagued with violence from the religious separatist insurgency. 2 other men were arrested after the clash with rangers in the Bacho district this morning. Another suspected insurgent is on the run. Rangers got a…
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Thai ranger and 2 suspected insurgents killed in Thailand’s deep south
In the ongoing violence from the Southern Thailand insurgency, 2 suspected insurgents and a Thai ranger were killed in a clash between security forces and an armed rebel group in Yala’s Krong Pinang district. Known as Thailand’s “deep south,” the provinces Yala, Narathiwat, and Pattani, along the Malaysia border, have been plagued with violence for years due to the religious…
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Thailand’s Southern Insurgency – who’s fighting who?
Trouble in the ‘south’. Attacks against civilians and rangers. Insurgents attack Thai soldiers – the sorts of headlines that people have read about Thailand’s southern conflict for the past 70 years or so. Thaiger readers may wonder who’s fighting who, and why. The area has been coined the ‘deep south’ or the ‘restive south’ and has become, statistically, a more…
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Locals threaten to burn hall if converted to field hospital
Citing fears of Covid-19 spreading, terrified locals threatened to burn down a Nakhon Si Thammarat conference hall authorities were preparing as a possible field hospital. The hall in the Muang district was one of several locations provincial authorities were readying as potential makeshift medical care facilities if the Covid-19 outbreak worsens. As of now, the governor chose 3 sites at…
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Hat Yai’s Kim Yong market closed after trader infected with Covid
Thailand’s southern city of Hat Yai’s Kim Yong market is closed after a trader there became infected with Covid-19. The market, popular with both foreigners and Thais, has been closed for 3 days for disinfecting. The market, a major tourist landmark in the heart of the city, is closed until April 30. The market sells fruit, snacks, clothing and flowers.…
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3 family members shot and burned in Pattani attack
A heavily-armed motorbike gang in Pattani shot and then burned 3 family members making a delivery from Songkla to Narathiwat in an alleged terrorist attack. The murders took place early on Saturday morning on the main road from Narathiwat to Pattani, where forensic teams have found more than 30 bullet casings. Police expect swift arrests and blame local insurgents for…
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Suspected insurgent shot and killed by rangers after bomb attack in Narathiwat
Rangers in Thailand’s deep south shot and killed a suspected insurgent and arrested 2 others after an attack at a defence volunteer outpost. The southern province Narathiwat, which borders Malaysia, has been plagued with violence from the religious separatist insurgency with ongoing reports of roadside bomb explosions, as well as armed and sometimes fatal clashes with rangers. Yesterday, police in…
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Koh Kood closed from today until May 1 after 2 hotel employees contract Covid
Koh Kood, an island in Thailand’s southeastern Trat Province, is closing as of today after 2 hotel workers were found to be infected with Covid-19. The island will close until May 1 as a safety precaution. A hotel bartender was the first to register a positive test for the virus, and, after tests on other employees, another infection was found.…
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UPDATED: 1.1 million baht of gold necklaces stolen in Hat Yai
UPDATE: A man is now in custody for the robbery of 1.1 million baht worth of gold necklaces in Hat Yai yesterday morning. Pvt Ukrit Thongsomsri, a 24 year old naval deserter from the Songkla naval bank was identified and taken into custody at a house in tambon Khuan Lang in Hat Yai. The man allegedly confessed and showed police…
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Southern Thai people turn from tourism to gold panning
Thars gold in dem hills! With tourism in Thailand struggling due to Covid-19, and an economy needing some help, some people in the southern Thai region of the country have found income in an unusual source: panning for gold. The Sukhirin region close to the Malaysian border is known for gold deposits in the Sai Buri River and surrounding mountains.…
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Boy killed by lightning strike in Surat Thani, 5 others injured
A 12 year old boy was killed by a lightning strike while he was playing football at a field in Southern Thailand’s Surat Thani. 5 other children were also injured from a bolt of lightning and were rushed to the Surat Thani Hospital. Heavy rain had just cleared up and the boys were playing football when lightning struck the middle of…
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Roadside bomb explodes in Yala, injuring policeman and volunteer
A roadside bomb in Thailand’s southern Yala province, is being blamed for injuring a tourist policeman and a police volunteer. The bomb exploded, causing shrapnel to hit the pair while they were driving through Bannang Sata district at around 8pm. The pair was travelling on Road 410, the Yala-Betong route, when the bomb went off, hitting their pickup truck and…
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Bombs found in stolen truck behind police station in Yala
Police in Yala, one of Thailand’s 3 southern border provinces, are investigating after diffusing a bomb they found in a stolen delivery truck behind a police station. They say the truck was stolen by holding the driver, Baihakee Longluwa, of Kerry Express, at gunpoint. The armed men allegedly pushed Baihakee inside of a house, tied up his hands, and left…
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Backhoe driver digs up 100,000 baht in cash buried in Nakhon Si Thammarat
A construction worker came across around 100,000 baht in cash that had been buried underground while he was using a backhoe to level out land in the southern province Nakhon Si Thammarat. Nataya Wakwatee said her father, who used to live on the property, had told her sometime before he died that something was hidden under his bed. She assumed…
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2 killed, 1 injured in early morning Songkhla car crash
2 men were killed and 1 was injured in an early morning accident after their car rear-ended a container truck in Thailand’s southern province of Songkhla. The crash occurred at 12:30am in Rattaphum district at the Khuha intersection on the main highway in tambon Khuan Ru, according to the district’s deputy investigation chief. The car, a Honda City, with Bangkok…
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