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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Environment Ministry wants to increase dugong populations by 50% over a decade
“Dr. Thon Thamrongnawasawat says that trash in the seas was the main cause of the death of many endangered marine species.” Pinsak Suraswadi, deputy director-general of the Marine and Coastal Resources Department, says the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment wants to increase the population of dugong in Thailand’s waters by 50% in the next ten years. The effort will…
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Thai PM visits the South amid tight security
The Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha visited the southern border province of Yala yesterday (Thursday). During the visit, he opened the Southern Border Provinces Government Complex and the One Start One Stop for Development Centre, and met with local people amid tight security. Soldiers were assigned to keep a close watch for suspicious objects as well as people acting suspiciously at…
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Thai weather man issues rain warnings for south and east
The Thai Meteorological Department has issued a warning to residents of eastern and southern provinces to brace themselves for heavy rains until Sunday. In its warning, issued at 5am today, the department said the rains would be unleashed by influences of the southwest monsoon across the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, which is intensifying, and by a low-pressure…
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Thai Police Chief admits difficulties in solving last Friday’s bombings
“Suspects had provided some useful information but are still reluctant to disclose the rewards they were promised.” Thailand’s national police chief says that it has been difficult for investigators to track down the real masterminds behind the recent bombings and arson attacks in Bangkok and neighbouring Nonthaburi province. Police have arrested at least two people and held others in custody…
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ATM destroyed in front of University in Pattani, police looking for 10 suspect attackers
PHOTO: Thai PBS Security officials are on high alert in southern Thailand after two explosions went off early yesterday, damaging ATMs in front of a University. Security is being tightened up at banks, markets, convenience stores and government offices in 12 districts of Pattani, one fo the three southern-most provinces. At this stage security officials are blaming separatist insurgents for…
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Thai police suspect southern insurgents in co-ordinated ATM explosions in Pattani
PHOTO: Charoon Thongnual Suspected insurgents have blown up three ATMs in two districts in the Southern Thai province of Pattani, near the Malaysian border. The assailants escaped with banknotes from one of the ATMs. At this stage local police and security officials suspect insurgents were responsible for the bombings, but are still considering if the incidents could have been related…
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Media reports Bangkok bomb suspects already detained – Thai PM says reports are false
Two men already detained by Bangkok metropolitan police confessed yesterday that they came from the south of the country to plant bombs in Bangkok, the Thai-language Khaosod reported. Photos of the two men appear the same as the two men detained early on Friday morning following the placement of a ‘fake’ bomb at the front of the Royal Thai Police…
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Ranger patrol targeted with roadside bomb in Pattani, two injured
FILE PHOTO – The southern insurgency has killed more than 7,000 in the past two decades Two rangers have suffered injuries in an ambush when insurgents detonated a roadside bomb. The attack was on a patrol unit in Pattani province last night on the main road of Moo 1 village in Tambon Paku in the Thung Yang Daeng district. Police say…
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Police find 8,400 pills when meth smuggler has car crash
PHOTO: INN News Rule #1 when you are trafficking drugs in your pick-up: Don’t have a crash when Thai police will be visiting the scene of the accident. There was an accident in Tha Pae District, Satun early this morning between 35 year old Wittichai from Phatthalung and 33 year old Pruksa. Wittichai was heading to Satun and Pruksa was…
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Toon is on the run again for hospitals in the Andaman region
Yesterday (July 30), Atiwara Kongmalai, aka Toon Bodyslam, met with Dr. Supot Pukaoluan, The Director of Krabi Hospital, to discuss about his marathon-running-charity project, Kao Khon La Kao. Toon will be running in parts of the Andaman region in October to raise funds for five hospitals The five government hospitals which will be recipients of funds raised from the running…
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Young Thai caught between a rock and a hard place in Satun
A 20 year old Thai has been rescued from getting stuck in a rock crevice for nine hours. Sanook reported that the man was out looking for wild orchids with a friend on Saturday. He fell down into a rock crevice before being found and rescued by local foundation rescue volunteers. The incident happened at the Phu Pa Phet Cave…
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Thais across the country commemorate HM the King’s birthday
PHOTOS: The Nation To commemorate His Majesty the King’s birthday today, celebrations have been held around the country. In Songkhla the Fifth Artilleryman Battalion performed a 21 gun salute as a military honour to celebrate His Majesty’s 67th birthday. The firing of cannons from four artillery machines was performed at Mahavajiravudh Songkhla School in the Muang district of Songkhla province.…
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Surat Thani governor does spot checks on free school lunch program
PHOTOS: Thai Rath Want to find out if the public school free lunches are up to scratch? Send out a team of people to ‘test drive’ the free lunch program that has come under scrutiny in recent years. There have been accusations of rorts, poor quality and downright corruption at some schools that were meant to be providing a nutritional…
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Thai military under fire over alleged torture of a man in Pattani
PHOTO: Pattani United Liberation Organisation president Mr. Kasturi Mahkota An apparently healthy man, taken to a military camp in the Thai southern province of Pattani for interrogation on Sunday night, has ended up in the provincial hospital’s intensive care unit with brain swelling. The Pattani United Liberation Organisation is condemning the Thai military over the incident. Kasturi Mahkota, PULO president,…
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Ministers visit Thai southern provinces for economic brainstorming session
PHOTO: Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit, centre, arrives for a meeting in Yala yesterday – The Nation The new Thai Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit (and leader of the Democrats), along with the Deputy Transport Minister Thavorn Senniam and Deputy Interior Minister Niphon Bunyamanee, held a multi-party discussion yesterday at the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre in Yala province. The meeting aimed…
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National agenda will be prepared for dugong conservation in Thailand
PHOTO: Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa in Koh Libong, Trang, yesterday/Facebook Speaking to reporters during a trip to Koh Libong in Trang yesterday, the new Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa said that Thailand should draft a national agenda for dugong conservation. He was visiting the ‘nursery’ of the the young dugong ‘Mariam’ saying that Thailand could become…
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Roadside bomb in Narathiwat critically injures three rangers
PHOTO: Waedao Harai Three paramilitary rangers have been injured in Narathiwat following the explosion of a bomb in a roadside stall this morning just after 8am. Security officials say the bomb had been detonated remotely as the three rangers were patrolling past the stall. The stall was under construction at the time. The bomb was encased in a cooking gas…
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Koh Phi Phi dugong died from a gastrointestinal infection
PHOTO: Department of National Parks, Wildlife & Plant Conservation Another dead dugong was discovered over the weekend off Koh Phi Phi in Krabi province. Department of Marine and Coastal Resources veterinarians have determined the death was caused by stomach infection and chronic inflammation of the intestines. Another was found off the coast of Trang on the weekend as well. The…
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Thai politician sought after quartet arrested with large drugs haul
by Jessada Chantharak A Narathiwat politician is on the run following the issuing of an arrest warrant after being implicated in a major local drug bust. A politician at the Narathiwat OrBorTor has been implicated by four drug suspects as the person who hired them to move 459 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, a very large quantity of ‘ice’. Three men, aged…
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Visiting time to see baby dugong Mariam is now restricted
Tourists and local well-wishers are flocking to get a glimpse of ‘Mariam’. She’s become an internet hit. But that’s also caused other problems. The high number of Thai and foreign tourists heading to Duyong Bay in Tambon Koh Libong in Kantang district, Trang, to watch officials looking after seven month old orphan dugong Mariam is prompting authorities to issue regulations to…
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Two defence volunteers killed by suspected insurgents in southern Thailand
Two defence volunteers guarding a road checkpoint in Yala, southern Thailand, have been shot dead while a third volunteer and a villager have been wounded in an attack by suspected insurgents. According to witness accounts, six suspected insurgents, riding three motorcycles, approached the checkpoint in Tambon Lampaya yesterday afternoon (Sunday) and the three pillion passengers opened fire at the volunteers…
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Dugongs ‘live’ from today starring Miriam and Yamil
PHOTO: กรมทรัพยากรทางทะเลและชายฝั่ง Be your own director, choose the camera and follow your baby dugongs live. The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources and TOT are running live trials for a livestream of the care facilities where the two young dugongs ‘Mariam’ and ‘Yamil’ are now living, one in Trang and one in Phuket. The DMCR and TOT intend to provide…
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Thailand’s Princess Sirivannavari names Krabi’s baby dugong ‘Yamil’
Her Royal Highness Princess Sirivannavari has proposed the name ‘Yamil’ for the orphaned baby dugong found stranded in Krabi on July 1. The animal was rescued by villagers and sent for treatment and rehabilitation by marine veterinarians in Phuket. Read about the baby dugong being found HERE. Netizens were invited to name the orphaned baby dugong by officials yesterday. Many…
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Dead dugong, dolphin found off southern Thai beaches
PHOTO: Manoch Wongsuryrat A three-metre long dugong has been found dead off the coast of Trang in southern Thailand. The total number of dead dugong found this year has reached seven, according to the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources when they spoke to Thai PBS. Fishermen found the mammal and towed it ashore for veterinarians to examine. The dugong…
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2 killed, 4 others injured in south Thailand bombings and shootings
PHOTO: Thai PBS A Thai para-military ranger and a local villager were killed, along with three other rangers and another villager who were wounded in two related incidents in the forests of Yala, southern Thailand, this morning. A team of para-military rangers was dispatched to the forest in Ban Kuwing, Village 6 of Tambon Baroh after they received a report…
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89 year old Trang grandmother raped by 71 year old neighbour
PHOTOS: Daily News A 71 year old man in Trang has been arrested after confessing to raping an 89 year old neighbour. Daily News reports that Palian police arrived to find that the woman’s granddaughter, Naphawan, had already taken matters into her own hands and beaten up Yap Chaiphak. She admitted to police that she had hit Yap repeatedly with…
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Burmese worker arrested for stabbing workmate to death in Surat Thani
A Burmese worker has been arrested shortly after allegedly stabbing another Burmese man to death during an alleged drinking argument in Surat Thani’s Tha Chang district, north of Surat Thani city, police said. 26 year old Hern Gogo was arrested inside an oil palm plantation in a village in Tambon Sawiad where he was hired to work with the victim,…
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Two suspects in custody after Surat Thani police officer killed during drug sting
PHOTO: The car that ran over Pol Sen Sgt Maj Poonkrit Buakaeo was found on Friday morning – Supapong Chaolan The body of a police officer, killed on duty during a drug sting in Surat Thani on Thursday evening, was repatriated to his home province of Nakhon Si Thammarat for religious ceremonies yesterday. Meanwhile two suspects accused of killing the officer…
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A pair of 200 year old trees in Chumpon on Thailand’s National Heritage List
PHOTO: Star2.com The Thai Ministry of Culture has declared a Durian tree and one Takien Thong tree, both about 200 years old, in Chumpon, to be part of the country’s national heritage. Culture Minister Veera Rotepojanarat went to Patoh district to preside over the “ordination” ceremony for the two old trees in Tambon Patoh. The ceremony also featured an exhibition,…
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Mariam Live – the Trang baby dugong show
Mariam LIVE. Coming soon to your laptop or smartphone. The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) is preparing to live stream the daily life of the orphaned baby dugong Mariam currently being nursed at Koh Libong in Trang province. Mariam, now six months old and weighing 30 kilograms, is the latest internet star after being rescued in Krabi on…
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