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.
-
Sponsored Why is Bangkok's air quality so bad?
Imagine waking up early in Bangkok and you see all the beautiful morning fog from your balcony, but as you sip your coffee you realise it's just Bangkok's air pollution that's making the sun rise aesthetic. Ranked as the 36th...
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Toddler, locked in hot van, dies after 4 day coma
A 2 year old boy is dead after 4 days in a coma, due to being left in a hot van outside a daycare centre in the southern Nakhon Si Thammarat province. Staff at Maharaj Nakhon Si Thammarat Hospital confirmed the death of Thanakit “Nong Kongbin” Yodmanee yesterday afternoon, saying his organs failed. The boy was taken to hospital on…
-
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…
-
2 killed, 4 injured in separate bomb attacks in Deep South
2 men are dead and 4 injured after security forces, protecting teachers in the southern border provinces of Pattani and Narathiwat, were attacked in 2 roadside bomb blasts this morning. The attacks come on the first day of the resumption of in-person classes in schools across the nation. The dead have been identified as paramilitary ranger Emlookman Hayilamae, and soldier…
-
Crane, “toppled by ghosts,” destroys southern wat – VIDEO
A boom crane toppled in the southern Nakhon Si Thammarat province yesterday, taking down a wat ‘temple’ that it sat atop, along with its crematorium. Temple officials had hired a contractor to dissasemble the structure, because they’d already outlaid 3 million baht to build a new one nearby. But they couldn’t take down the shrine before removing its towering smokestack.…
-
1 drowned, another missing in storm off Nakhon Si Thammarat
A tourist has drowned and a 63 year old man remains missing, presumed drowned, after a tour boat capsized during a sudden rainstorm in Thong Nian Bay, off Khanom district in Nakhon Si Thammarat yesterday. The incident happened around 3pm when a sudden storm, over-turning the boat and dropping everyone in the water. A search was quickly organised after the…
-
Proposal would lift emergency decree in 4 southern districts
Thailand’s 4th Army plans to seek approval for the Executive Decree for Administration in Emergency Situations to be lifted in 4 southern districts, according to an army spokesman. The districts have been free of insurgency activities for a considerable time, and Pattani’s Mai Kaen district is likely to be the first to see the relaxation, the spokesman said today. The…
-
Authorities say religious conflict not behind beheading of Pattani Buddha image
The beheading of a revered Buddha image in the Muslim-dominated southern border province of Pattani was the work of a temple boy and not a religious conflict, according to a statement issued yesterday by the Region 4 Internal Security Operation Command. The head of “Phra Chao Ong Dam”, showing Buddha sitting under the Bodhi Tree or “tree of awakening”, inside…
-
1 soldier wounded in Narathiwat ambush
A soldier in the southern Narathiwat province was injured in an ambush in Bacho district last night, according to police. The attack happened at about 10:30pm while 56 year old Serm Seedaeng, leader of a civic action team of the 2nd Rifle Battalion at Chulabhorn military camp in the province’s central district, was driving his pickup along Bacho-Ban Thon road…
-
US soldiers, concertgoers all test negative for Covid-19
All 110 US soldiers visiting Bangkok for upcoming joint military exercises have tested negative for Covid-19. Dr Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesperson for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, says all are staying at alternative state quarantine locations and are strictly prohibited from leaving their rooms or interacting with the general public. The soldiers’ arrival caused concern and discussion on social media,…
-
Stormy weather wreaks havoc, destroys homes, in southern Thailand
The current stormy conditions have caused severe damage to a number of homes in the southern province of Surat Thani, with some villagers left homeless. At one property in the Phra Sang district, the roof and garage have collapsed, with the 45 year old homeowner, Rachan Churak, having to flea the property with his family. Rachan says the damage occurred…
-
Pattani police hunt thief in fatal bag snatching – VIDEO
Police in southern province of Pattani, along the Malaysian border, are hunting for a thief on a motorcycle who snatched the bag of a woman riding pillion on another motorbike, causing her to fall, fracturing her skull and killing her. Video footage from CCTV cameras on the road in Pattani’s central district shows the suspect, wearing a mask and full-face…
-
Ukrainian man in fatal fall from abandoned Surat Thani hotel
A Ukranian fell to his death from the roof of an empty hotel in the central business district of the southern province of Surat Thani this morning. The 36 year old man, identified by Matichon as Tomak Mykola, was found lying face up on the ground in front of the abandoned Southern Star Hotel on Chon Kasem Road. Police were…
-
80 year old Phattalung woman allegedly raped by former neighbour
A woman in the southern province of Phatthalung has allegedly been raped by a former neighbour, who claimed to have been attracted to her “since he was young”. She was given a saline injection and instructed to rest in bed at home. The woman is 80 years old. She reports that she was selling steamed sticky rice and banana snacks…
-
4 pregnant women among 32 human trafficking victims dumped in forest in southern Thailand
4 pregnant women are among 32 Burmese dumped in a forest in the southern province of Chumphon after being illegally trafficked into Thailand. It’s understood the group had all been working in Malaysia until the Covid-19 crisis erupted and they lost their jobs. Thai Residents reports that they pooled all the money they had to engage a human trafficking gang…
-
Soldier killed, 10 injured in Deep South back-to-back bombings
4 civilians were among 10 people injured in a bombing in Pattani province, a day after a soldier died in a similar blast. The bombings are the first to strike Thailand’s restive deep South on consecutive days since Malaysia’s Barisan Revolusi Nasional rebels declared a unilateral ceasefire in early April, although deadly shootings linked to the insurgents have occurred since…
-
Cambodian accused of compatriot’s murder on fishing boat
A Cambodian crewman is accused of murdering a fellow national on a fishing boat off the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat in the Gulf of Thailand. The deputy chief of Tha Sala police said the skipper of the fishing boat reported the death by calling in via radio. The alleged killer, 41 year old Long Nai, was handed over…
-
Separate tragedies across the nation
Tragedy has struck around the nation in separate incidents. In the Hat Yai district of the southern Songkhla province, the bodies of the owners of the locally well known Nattharika Furniture were discovered this morning by a relative who had been instructed to show up at the shop at 6am. In an apparent suicide pact, 55 year old Somsak, and…
-
Volunteer ranger shot dead in Yala
Police report that a volunteer ranger has been shot dead by a gunman on a motorcycle in the Raman district of the southern border province of Yala this morning. According to a radio report called into the Thathong police station, the attack occurred about 8:45am in front of Prachanukroh 41 School on the Kotabaru-Thung Yang Daeng road. Witnesses say 43…
-
Man arrested for repeatedly raping stepdaughter in Nakhon Si Thammarat
Police in southern Thailand have arrested a 38 year old man and charged him with the repeated rape of his young stepdaughter, along with illegal drug use. Officers of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division and local police arrested the man at his house in Nakhon Si Thammarat province yesterday. The arrest follows a complaint filed by the girl’s grandmother. She…
-
One drowned, another still missing off Surat Thani
One person is still missing, one has been recovered and another person has drowned after a search for coastal molluscs and cockles went wrong in Surat Thani yesterday. A woman was reported as being washed out to sea and her daughter-in-law is still missing, while collecting molluscs at a Laem Pho beach in Chaiya district, north in Surat Thani province. There…
-
2 arrested in Narathiwat with 1,420 kilograms of meth – VIDEO
Police in the southern province of Narathiwat, on the Malaysian border, arrested 2 men and seized and 1,420 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine hidden in a trailer truck in Tak Bai district in the early hours of this morning. A team of police, soldiers and local officials was sent to Padador village in tambon Na Nak following a tip that a…
-
Police arrest 3, find 250 kilograms of crystal meth in truck in southern Thailand
Police arrested 3 people involved in drug operations after stopping a 10 wheel truck at a security checkpoint and finding 250 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, or ice, hidden in 12 fertiliser sacks. That is a very large seizure of the crystal form of methamphetamine. The lorry driver, Koseng Cheha, was arrested at the checkpoint in Songkhla in southern Thailand. Cheha…
-
Police arrest former security guard who robbed his workplace
Police arrested a man allegedly involved in decade-old burglaries. A group of security guards robbed a factory where they worked and have been hiding from police since 2007. The 44 year old man known as Tuk-Kae was arrested in southern Thailand’s Nakhon Si Thammarat province. Police say they hope the arrest will lead to new information about where the other…
-
Police arrest man for robbery on 4 year old warrant
A man who allegedly posed as a police officer and stole a motorbike was arrested in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Southern Thailand after being on the run for nearly 4 years. There’s been a warrant for his arrest since 2016 for robbery charges. The 32 year old man, Thai media reports as ‘Beer’, along with 3 of his friends, allegedly stole…
-
Dozens arrested in money laundering and drugs case
61 people have been arrested in one of Thailand’s biggest money laundering cases of the year, said to be worth more than 10 billion baht. The suspects are believed to be part of a drug syndicate and money laundering network, allegedly run by a 45 year old Chinese man identified as “Chien Ma,” who was caught earlier in Bangkok. Provincial…
-
Woman injured after falling through broken drain cover in Trang
A woman has injured her leg after slipping through a broken drain cover in the southern city of Trang. The woman, named only as “Ms B” was on her way home from a restaurant in the city when her right left slipped through a gap in the drain cover as she was walking to her car. Her leg, which was…
-
Officials investigate the illegal logging of 36 rai in Narathiwat
In Southern Thailand, 36 rai (about 14 acres) of forest on the Sankalakhiri mountain range has been cleared illegally by encroachers. The incident happened in the Chanae district. Director of the intelligence office of the Region 4 Internal Security Operations Command, acting on information from concerned villagers, ordered soldiers and officials to check on the alleged encroachment high up in the mountain…
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.