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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  • Villagers taken in under martial law for questioning over Yala shoot-out, Southern Thailand | Thaiger

    Villagers taken in under martial law for questioning over Yala shoot-out, Southern Thailand

    PHOTO: Charoon Thongnual Security officials have interrogated 18 people living near the site of this week’s clash between soldiers and suspected insurgents in Yala’s Yaha district. “They were brought in for questioning under martial law as authorities intend to go after the unidentified gunmen in Monday’s clash,” a source said yesterday. The Nation reports that the gunfight lasted several hours…

  • 80 year old Malaysian tourist dies during Thai massage in Songkhla | Thaiger

    80 year old Malaysian tourist dies during Thai massage in Songkhla

    PHOTO: Thai Rath A tourist has died during a ‘traditional Thai’ massage in a hotel in Sadao, in the southern province of Songkhla, just across the border from Malaysia. Pol Lt Thanatsak of the Sadao police found the 80 year old Malaysian man dead in his hotel room. He was laying on his bed and clothed in a t-shirt and brown…

  • OrBorTor president shot dead in Yala | Thaiger

    OrBorTor president shot dead in Yala

    PHOTOS: Work Point News An OrBorTor president in Yala’s Raman district has been fatally shot while riding his motorcycle home last night. Police say 55 year old Sama-ae Sama was shot on a main road in Moo 2 village in Tambon Tha Thong at 8.15pm. He was rushed to the Raman Hospital but died later. Police said Sama-ae was returning home…

  • 14 smuggled Burmese migrants rescued and alleged trafficker arrested | Thaiger

    14 smuggled Burmese migrants rescued and alleged trafficker arrested

    PHOTO: Bang Klam, Songkhla Immigration police in Songkhla have arrested an alleged Burmese human trafficker and rescued 14 smuggled Burmese from a rented house in Bang Klam district. Police arrested the alleged ring leader, 29 year old Aung Chanai, not far from the rented house on the Asia highway in Moo 4 village in Tambon Tha Chang where he allegedly…

  • Ouch! Man falls from mango tree, ends up with metal rod through his testicles | Thaiger

    Ouch! Man falls from mango tree, ends up with metal rod through his testicles

    PHOTO: Daily News Daily News reports that an iron rod, sitting under a mango tre,e had gone right through a man’s testicles after he fell from a mango tree in Nakorn Si Thammarat yesterday. The poor man, Piyapong, was fighting extreme pain as friends tried to keep him in consciousness with smelling salts. Meanwhile, according to the report, the Tai…

  • Corals bleaching off Pattani | Thaiger

    Corals bleaching off Pattani

    PHOTOS: Thon Thamrongnawasawat Corals at Koh Losin, off the coast of Pattani in the south of Thailand in the Gulf of Thailand, have started to bleach and are reported to be in a ‘critical situation’. Dr Thon Thamrongnawasawat, assistant dean of the Faculty of Fisheries at Kasetsart University and a marine biologist says, “Koh Losin is in the Gulf of Thailand…

  • Four southern islands to be closed to tourists during monsoon | Thaiger

    Four southern islands to be closed to tourists during monsoon

    PHOTO: Koh Kradan Four islands in the Haad Chao Mai National Park in Trang, southern Thailand, will be closed to tourists for four months starting June 1. The chief of the Haad Chao Mai national park, Narong Kong-iad, says that access to the park will be denied to tourist from June 1 to September 30 for “the nature to rehabilitate…

  • Co-ordinated pipe bomb attacks in Yala injure five | Thaiger

    Co-ordinated pipe bomb attacks in Yala injure five

    FILE PHOTO Five Army troops and rangers have been injured after southern insurgents threw pipe bombs. Security officials say the incidents happened at three locations in Yala in what appears to be a co-ordinated incident. The commander of Muang Yala police station, Pol Col Narawee Binwaearong, says two insurgents on a motorcycle rode to a security checkpoint on the Siroros…

  • Nakhon Si Thammarat Police chief orders “shoot to kill” if necessary | Thaiger

    Nakhon Si Thammarat Police chief orders “shoot to kill” if necessary

    PHOTO: Daily News A police chief in Nakhon Si Thammarat has told his police to shoot to kill if necessary as the hunt for a Thai man continues. Thanakorn Saiyut was described as “armed and dangerous” by Pol Col Suthat Songsayom of the Chawang police who said he wanted the man dead or alive. Nakhon Si Thammarat is just south of…

  • “Don’t you know who I am”? Southern judge ridiculed. | Thaiger

    “Don’t you know who I am”? Southern judge ridiculed.

    PHOTO: Judge Krairat Veerapattanasuwan refuses to show his driving license The police chief of Nakhon Si Thammarat says he has set up a panel to investigate an incident where a man, identified as a local judge, refused to show his driving licence to a policeman when asked, saying he was a friend of the policeman’s boss. The traffic policeman was…

  • Hat Yai’s annual balloon festival bursts into the skies above Songkhla | Thaiger

    Hat Yai’s annual balloon festival bursts into the skies above Songkhla

    The International Balloon Festival at Hat Yai 2019 is on again this weekend as Songkhla’s provincial capital bursts into colour with larger-than-life characters. It started on May 10 at the Jiranakorn Stadium in Hat Yai and is sponsored by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). The three-day festival of inflatable fun features 15 spectacular hot air balloons from Thailand and…

  • 15 car convoy arrested in Songkhla for petrol smuggling | Thaiger

    15 car convoy arrested in Songkhla for petrol smuggling

    Soldiers and customs officials have stopped and searched 15 vehicles heading north from Malaysia into Thailand smuggling petrol and diesel. Officials seized 5,100 litres of petrol and diesel allegedly being smuggled into Songkhla’s Sadao district this morning at the Tha Khoi-Padang Bezar border crossing from Malaysia. The drivers of the five cars and 10 pickup trucks were arrested on charges…

  • Wanted militant killed during security forces raid in Pattani | Thaiger

    Wanted militant killed during security forces raid in Pattani

    PHOTOS: InnNews.co.th A wanted insurgent has been shot dead by security forces during a raid on a hideout in Pattani yesterday afternoon. Thai PBS reports that the victim was later identified as 37 year old Sarisan Amri who was the subject of five outstanding arrest warrants for his suspected involvement in a series of offences in southern province. About 100…

  • Python swallows a goat in Satun – VIDEO | Thaiger

    Python swallows a goat in Satun – VIDEO

    PHOTOS: Sathaphon Samadee / Song Tai Satun Newspaper A python has swallowed a baby goat in Satun in southern Thailand. Song Tai Satun Newspapers reports that a staff member at the Tanyongpoe Tambol Administrative Organisation in Satun was notified of the incident yesterday. Rescue workers arrived at a rubber plantation to find the three metre python, with a noticeable bulge…

  • Songkhla man accused of human trafficking of Burmese | Thaiger

    Songkhla man accused of human trafficking of Burmese

    FILE PHOTO A Songkhla man has been arrested for allegedly being a member of a human trafficking ring that has been smuggling Burmese migrants into Malaysia across the southern border. 60 year old Thammasak Boonyarit was arrested at a house in Songkhla’s Hat Yai district under an arrest warrant issued by the Chumphon Court. The arrest was made a day…

  • Three metre king cobra caught in Trang – VIDEO | Thaiger

    Three metre king cobra caught in Trang – VIDEO

    PHOTOS/VIDEO: Thai South News A three and a half metre king cobra has been caught in Trang, in southern Thailand. Thai South News reports that yesterday at 5pm rescue workers were notified that the king cobra had been found inside a toilet of a mosque in Palean, Trang. Rescue workers arrived at the scene to find the cobra hiding behind…

  • 49 passengers on Bangkok-Phuket bus as it skids off road in Surat Thani | Thaiger

    49 passengers on Bangkok-Phuket bus as it skids off road in Surat Thani

    PHOTOS: Newshawk Phuket An express bus which was traveling from Bangkok to Phuket has skidded off the road in Surat Thani. 49 passengers escaped injury following the wayward bus careering off the main road into roadside gravel and bushes. Newshawk Phuket reports that, at 7.47am this morning, a bus travelling from Bangkok heading to Phuket skidded off the road in…

  • 12 women rescued from human trafficking ring at Malaysia border | Thaiger

    12 women rescued from human trafficking ring at Malaysia border

    Officials have raided a karaoke bar in Narathiwat’s Sungai Kolok district, on the Malaysian border, rescuing 12 Lao women from prostitution. The raid against the Relax Pub in the border town was carried out at 8.30pm last night by officials from the Provincial Administration Department and DSI (Department of Special Investigation), as well as staff of an international non-governmental organisation.…

  • Baby dugong rescued in Krabi, taken back to its Trang home – VIDEO | Thaiger

    Baby dugong rescued in Krabi, taken back to its Trang home – VIDEO

    PHOTOS/VIDEO: DMCR A baby dugong, found on a Krabi beach, has been taken back to its home. The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources is reporting that yesterday the dugong was taken back to its home in Trang. “The dugong is aged around two to three years old. It is 120 centimetres long. No wounds were found on the dugong.…

  • Family alleging sex abuse of four of their children may be forced to move | Thaiger

    Family alleging sex abuse of four of their children may be forced to move

    PHOTOS: The Nation A family who who have made official reports alleging that four of their children were sexually abused by an ‘influential’ local man in Chumphon’s Lang Suan district, claim they are being harassed and may have to move. They claim that three female family members, aged 6, 10 and 14, and their 9 year old boy, were sexually assaulted…

  • Boat carrying a Bangkok school group sinks at Chumpon pier | Thaiger

    Boat carrying a Bangkok school group sinks at Chumpon pier

    A boat carrying up to 40 schoolchildren has sunk after hitting underwater rocks next to a pier in Chumpon province last Monday. The vessel “Mattha” was carrying around 50 people, including the group from a school in Bangkok on a snorkelling day trip around the nearby islands. But when the boat returned later in the day, the tide was out…

  • Five metre king cobra caught in Trang – VIDEO | Thaiger

    Five metre king cobra caught in Trang – VIDEO

    PHOTOS/VIDEO: Trang DDPM (Kantang) / Rak Trang News / Maetee Mueangkaew A five metre king cobra has been caught in Trang, in southern Thailand, yesterday. 74 year old Amphon Srisombat, a resident at a house in Kantang district, Trang, called staff at the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation to explain that the king cobra was inside her house. A DDPM…

  • Chumpon plantation owner faces accusations of child sex abuse | Thaiger

    Chumpon plantation owner faces accusations of child sex abuse

    “Jan said ‘Surin’ often took her daughter to his home. When the girl was seven years old, however, it was revealed that ‘Surin’ had allegedly molested or raped her over the previous five years.” In the latest in a string of serious child abuse cases, relatives of the alleged victims, in this case three girls aged 6, 10 and 14…

  • Man found dead after missing in Nakhon Si Thammarat forest for ten days | Thaiger

    Man found dead after missing in Nakhon Si Thammarat forest for ten days

    PHOTOS: Krabi Pitak Pracha Rescue Foundation A man who has been missing since Songkran in the Nangnon Mountain Ranges in Nakhon Si Thammarat, has been found. The Krabi Pitak Pracha Rescue Foundation report that the body of the man was found in the forests on Nangnon Mountain Range, Thungyai District in Nakhon Si Thammarat yesterday. A team of rescue workers from…

  • SUV catches fire sitting in Trang’s hot sun | Thaiger

    SUV catches fire sitting in Trang’s hot sun

    PHOTOS: Earn Benjakun A SUV has caught fire while it was parked in the hot southern sun in Trang over the weekend. Fire fighters in Trang were notified of the burning SUV in Yan Ta Khao District in Trang at 2pm on Sunday. Fire fighters arrived to find the SUV ablaze. It took about 15 minutes to control the fire.…

  • Pattani smuggler arrested with over 10,000 packets of illegal cigarettes | Thaiger

    Pattani smuggler arrested with over 10,000 packets of illegal cigarettes

    A man has been arrested in Pattani’s Mayo district after trying to smuggle 10,802 packets of foreign cigarettes. Police and Excise Department chief Itthipol Liabyainak announced the arrest of Yaman Pohleng, the owner of a grocery store in Tambon Sakhor Bon. Itthipol says the joint operation by Excise officials and border patrol police was carried out following tips-off that Yaman had…

  • Phuket taxi slams into tree in Phattalung | Thaiger

    Phuket taxi slams into tree in Phattalung

    PHOTOS: Phattalung Rescue Two people have sustained serious injuries after a Phuket taxi slammed into a tree in Phattalung last night. Phattalung rescue workers were notified of the accident in Mueang Pattalung District at 7.57pm last night (Sunday). They arrived at the scene to find the Phuket registered taxi resting in front of the big tree on the side of…

  • Commerce Ministry talks up benefits of palm oil for generating power | Thaiger

    Commerce Ministry talks up benefits of palm oil for generating power

    While the Thai government is promoting the use of palm oil to produce power, the latest price of the oil remains lower than the cost of producing it because the volume of output was 30% more than the expected quantity. The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives will survey the real quantity of palm oil to be released onto the market…

  • Boonrod gets his own Facebook page – VIDEO | Thaiger

    Boonrod gets his own Facebook page – VIDEO

    Boonrod, the dog rescued this week from an oil rig the middle of the Gulf of Thailand, can now show off his own Facebook page with more than 6,000 followers. Launched just yesterday, Boonrod บุญรอดหมาอ่าวไทย (Boonrod Gulf of Thailand dog), has Facebook user Vitisak Payalaw serving as an administrator. The rescue of the tan-coloured dog, named Boonrod (“Survivor” in Thai) by oil…

  • Village leader killed in Yala in an insurgent ambush | Thaiger

    Village leader killed in Yala in an insurgent ambush

    FILE PHOTO An assistant village headman has been ambushed and shot dead in Yala’s city district just after midnight today (Wednesday). 53 year old Sakariya Waemamah was killed on the main village road in Ban Taseh village at about 12.05am while riding home on his motorcycle. Police found 23 spent shells from an M16 assault rifle and two spent shells…