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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No flights to new Betong airport, Yala tourism officials talk promotions to boost travel
After the highly-publicised launch of the new airport in Southern Thailand’s Yala went sour, with Nok Air suspending flights to the airport due to a lack of passengers, tourism officials in the Betong area plan to offer discounts on hotel rooms and food for travellers to help the flights takeoff. Nation Thailand says the Betong Airport was “built to boost…
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Nok Air asks for time to promote routes to new Betong airport after cancelling flights
Yala’s new Betong International Airport is open for business, but you might be hard-pressed to book a flight there. Nok Air has suspended its route from Bangkok to Betong, saying it needs an additional two to three months to promote the airport among domestic and foreign tourists before it can reopen the route. Last week, Nok Air cancelled its flights…
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Foreign affairs ministry reminds tourists Thailand’s land borders mostly still closed
After the CCSA announced yesterday that Thailand will scrap requirements for pre-travel PCR tests for foreign flyers, the foreign affairs ministry reminds wannabe international travellers that most land border crossing points remain closed to them. The CCSA also says that only four land border posts are open to tourists and expats: Nongkhai and Udon Thani (near the Laos border) and…
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Four military rangers injured in another Southern Thailand bomb
A bomb exploded in Mayo district of Pattani province in Southern Thailand this morning. Four paramilitary rangers were injured from the bomb on their way to fix a broken water pump near their base. One ranger was severely injured. One ranger’s left arm was injured. One ranger’s leg was wounded, and another ranger suffered chest pain. All the rangers were…
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Prayut orders tight security amidst new Southern bomb attack
In the aftermath of a bombing in Yala province in Southern Thailand, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered investigators to hunt down the perpetrators. The attack injured four patrolling rangers and two civilians in front of a school in Bannang Sata district. This news comes after a government negotiator announced last month that the Thai government would have peace talks with…
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PM Prayut to board first official flight to Yala’s new airport, chair opening ceremony
PM Prayut Chan-o-cha will be onboard the first flight to the new Betong Airport in the southern province Yala to preside over the opening ceremony on Monday. The prime minister hopes the airport will stimulate the southern border provinces’ economic development, encourage domestic and international commerce and improve security in the area. The airport, under construction from 2017 to 2019,…
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Songkhla archeological site threatened with destruction
A movement launched yesterday to stop an unnamed party allegedly illegally building a road on a historic mountain in Songkhla province. The mountain is Khao Daeng. It has historic archeological structures. The civic groups that gathered yesterday at the local fine arts office to support authorities told the Bangkok Post many trees were cut down, and soil had been dug…
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National park officers rescue 5 German tourists lost in Koh Phang Ngan forest
Officers from the Than Sadet National Park on Koh Phang Ngan have rescued a group of 5 German tourists after they got lost yesterday while on a forest hike. The 4 women and 1 man had been doing the Khao Ra hike, which takes in the highest peak on the island, when heavy rainfall caused them to get lost. A…
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Ethnic group in Southern province complains losing residence due to tourism
Representatives of the Mani ethnic group in the Southern province of Satun in Thailand have handed a letter to the authorities complaining that they would lose their residence and couldn’t access a better quality of life due to the local tourism industry. The representatives told the authorities they didn’t even have a right to replace a thatched roof with a…
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Thai-Malaysia border to re-open from next month
The Thai government says it will re-open the country’s border with Malaysia from next month, in an effort to kickstart the recovery of tourism and the economy in the southern provinces. According to a Bangkok Post report, spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek says PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered the CCSA to work with the tourism and sports emergency operation centre on Covid-19…
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Man left with shrapnel wounds after another bomb attack in Thailand’s Deep South
A man was rushed to a hospital with shrapnel wounds on his torso after an attacker threw a bomb next to a security booth last in Yala in Thailand’s Deep South, a region with ongoing violence related to the religious separatist insurgency. Earlier that night, gunmen shot another man on a motorcycle in Bannang Sata, the same district of Yala…
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Pumice from volcanic eruption found on southern beaches off Gulf of Thailand
Locals who live near the beaches of Songkhla and other southern districts along the Gulf of Thailand have found numerous small pumice stones that are believed to be from a volcanic eruption. No one knows where these spongy greyish-green stones came from. They were discovered along the shoreline in various locations, including Chalathat and Samila beaches, and other major tourist…
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Three injured including two bomb squad officers injured in Songkhla’s bomb blast
While investigating the scene in Songkhla’s Chana district where a fisherman lost his leg when he stepped on a bomb buried underground, two explosive ordnance disposal personnel at the investigation site sustained serious injuries when another bomb exploded. They were working near a railway bridge near Ban Na subdistrict under the surveillance of police and soldiers where three militants were killed the…
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Security captures fourth Songkhla insurgent after long siege
Security forces captured the fourth insurgent after three others tried to escape from their hiding spot in Chana, a district of Songkla. The insurgent hid in a house, even though local religious and community leaders begged him to surrender. After a pause, there were gunshots again in the evening. Security forces then moved in. The insurgent had an M16 rifle,…
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Betong Airport welcomes first charter flight, full opening February
The long-anticipated Betong Airport is finally ready to launch in Thailand’s southernmost province of Yala, is expected to be up and running by next month. The first charter flight to Betong landed yesterday with 78 passengers hailing the beginning of the new gateway to the destination. Businesspeople from the area were joined on the flight by an aide to PM…
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Insurance fraud ring uncovered after woman breaks her own finger
A woman busted for breaking her own finger led to the uncovering of a syndicate perpetrating insurance fraud around Thailand. The leader of the group and 16 members have now been arrested after at least 16 cases of buying insurance and then cashing in 1 to 2 months later. The group offered a service where they would find someone to…
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Ruling party ousts renegade MP Thammanat Prompao after tumultuous career
Thailand’s ruling Palang Pracharat Party has ousted the notorious Thai politician Thammanat Prompao who, apart from other alleged transgressions, was convicted conspiring to import heroin in Australia. He has also been accused of urging voters in a Songkhla bi-election to vote for someone “from a family with pedigree and wealth,” a statement his opponents in the party considered divisive. Palang…
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Food group denies hoarding pork after authorities raid warehouse
In a continued spat after Songkhla livestock authorities discovered over 200 tonnes of pork in a refrigerated warehouse, the company accused of hoarding the pork insisted it has not been doing so. The company, Betagro, which is one of Thailand’s leading agro-industry and food businesses, issued a letter of clarification yesterday, stating that the frozen meat belongs to its subsidiary…
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Thai authorities crack down on pork hoarders in the midst of pork shortage crisis
In the midst of Thailand’s pork shortage crisis, suspected of being driven by an outbreak of the African Swine Fever, Thai livestock authorities discovered over 200 tonnes of unverified pork in a refrigerated warehouse in Chana, a district of southern province Songkhla, yesterday. The authorities believe the pork has been stored there since November. They are now inspecting the warehouse…
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Burmese migrants trafficked through Thailand caught by Malaysian border
Last night, Thai soldiers caught 31 Burmese migrants on the Thailand-Malaysia border, illegally passing through Thailand and hoping to work in Malaysia. The migrants were found hiding in a ditch on a rubber plantation in Sadao, a district of Songkhla province. The group 25 men and six women had reportedly travelled from Myanmar’s Myawaddy township. After they crossed into Tak…
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Thai government, Patani Malay Southern rebels still disagree on key issues
The Thai government and Southern separatist group Barisan Revolusi Nasional still stand apart on several important issues. The two parties met last week in the first peace talks in two years. Reports say the BRN wishes to establish an autonomous region known as Patani Darussalam, which includes Thailand’s Deep South provinces near the Malaysian border of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and…
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Peace talks held in Phuket with Islamist rebel group
Leaders of the Islamist rebel group Barisan Revolusi Nasional Melayu Patani joined a peace dialogue panel in Phuket with the secretary-general of Thailand’s National Security Council, Wanlop Raksanoh, to discuss solutions to the religious separatist insurgency by the Malaysian border. The panel was held at Le Meridian Phuket Beach Resort and lasted from Saturday to Sunday. Also present at the…
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Thailand’s first Omicron variant Covid-19 death in Hat Yai
An official from the Ministry of Public Health announced that today Thailand had its first reported death from the Omicron variant of Covid-19. The death recorded in Songkhla province in the south of Thailand was an 86 year old woman from Hat Yai. She had Alzheimer’s and was bedridden. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health said the elderly…
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Fugitive arrested 7 years after trafficking Rohingya migrants
On May 18, 2015, the Nathawee Provincial Court in Songkhla issued an arrest warrant for Chamsudin Tordin for various charges relating to human trafficking. Today, after nearly 7 years as a fugitive, Chamsudin was taken into custody and will face charges regarding trafficking of Rohingya migrants. The man is now 38 years old and is a native of Muang District…
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“Ghost ship” found off Thailand coast, Navy investigates abandoned Chinese vessel
What many are calling a “ghost ship” was found sinking in the Gulf of Thailand off the coast of Nakhon Si Thammarat. The abandoned Chinese cargo ship was spotted by staff working at an offshore oil rig. No one was on board the vessel. The staff at the Chevron rigs reported the vessel to the 2nd Naval Area Command in…
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Rok Islands in Trang sees rare sighting of manta rays
It’s been about 18 years since they’ve been spotted in this area of the Andaman sea off the coast of Thailand, but snorkelers around the Rok Islands spotted a few manta rays. They are a vulnerable species that are rarely sighted in the area and are known to be the largest type of rays in the world. The area off…
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Omicron variant found in Nakhon Si Thammarat
As infections of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 surpass 1,100 cases in Thailand, the first confirmed case in Nakhon Si Thammarat was identified in a woman. She had already been fully vaccinated and received a booster shot. The 26 year old woman works at Kasemrad Hospital in Bangkok and travelled to the province to attend her grandfather’s funeral. The woman…
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Local mosque leader shot and killed in Pattani
Police are investigating the murder of a local mosque’s leader who was shot and killed while driving his motorcycle in Sai Buri in Southern Thailand’s Pattani province on Sunday night. The religious leader was shot twice, in the head and in the abdomen. The gunman is still at large. Police say a gunman shot Abdulloh Walor, a member of the mosque’s…
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Decomposing headless body found along the beach in Songkhla
A man out for a morning stroll this morning along the beach in the Muang district of Songkhla happened upon a grizzly discovery: a decomposing dead body on the beach, minus its head. The 72 year old man who discovered the headless body, which had decomposed to the point of being mostly bones, promptly notified the police of the morbid…
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Passenger train bombed in Thailand’s Deep South, 3 injured
A passenger train carrying around 300 people was bombed in Thailand’s Deep South, injuring two train officials and one passenger. The Defense Ministry says insurgents detonated the explosive along a railway in Pattani, a province by the Malaysian border with ongoing violence and attacks related to the religious separatist insurgency. The Defence Ministry of Thailand chastised the insurgents for attacking…
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