Search Results for: Bangkok
- Phuket News
Eel makes meal of diver’s digit
PHUKET: A 32-year-old Briton is recovering in hospital here after his left thumb was bitten off and eaten by a giant moray eel while he was diving at the well-known East of Eden dive site in the Similan Islands.Matt Butcher, of Stanstead, Essex, said he had fed the 2.2-meter eel regularly over the past 18 months, and that she was…
- Phuket News
Arthit fails to convince Dulwich parents
PHUKET: In a stormy meeting in the Dulwich International College auditorium this afternoon, the school’s CEO and founder, Dr Arthit Urairat, clearly failed to allay parents’ worries about the future of the school.Central to the parents’ concerns is the relationship between Dr Arthit’s team and the franchiser, Dulwich College, London (DCL), with several parents making it quite clear that if…
- Thailand News
In very poor taste
KATHU: Police arrested a 66-year-old English language teacher from Canada on charges of sexually molesting a minor, after the man allegedly enticed his five-year-old student to perform oral sex on him by covering his penis with honey. At 9:40 pm on April 18, a team of Kathu District Police officers led by Pol Capt Serm Kwanimit entered the home of…
- Phuket News
Appeal for info on missing Briton
PHUKET: The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has appealed for anyone who has seen Eddie Gibson, a young British national, to get in touch. Mr Gibson has not had any contact with his family since October 24, when he emailed his mother to say he was planning to return to Britain from Cambodia on a flight due to leave…
- Phuket News
19 hurt as bus overturns in rain
TAH CHAT CHAI: Police are hunting for the driver of a bus which overturned yesterday injuring 19 passengers.It is thought the driver, named so far only as “Kittisak”, lost control of the Bangkok-bound bus in bend in the road near Baan Koh En, during heavy rain.The Phuket Central Tour bus came to a stop upside down in a ditch. All 19 passengers on board…
- Phuket News
Patong alarm system test “a success’
PATONG: The last of the alarms in Patong’s newly-installed emergency warning system was tested yesterday. It emitted a 121-decibel alert that could be heard 1,500 meters away.The alarm at Phuket Cabana Hotel, connected to 24 loudspeakers, was tested for 10 minutes at 2pm yesterday afternoon.Installation of the system, which will eventually be linked to the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC),…
- Phuket News
Spaghetti-strap mosquito menace
BANGKOK (TNA, Gazette): Last year the Ministry of Culture tried to bar Thai women from wearing spaghetti-strap tops during Songkran, with a warning from Culture Minister Uraiwan Thienthong that “revealing clothes may induce sexual harassment”.It didn’t work. Apart from anything else, police had no support from the law of Thailand for enforcing a ban on the detestable, damaging-to-Thai-culture spaghetti strap.All…
- Phuket News
Ministry puts Phuket Air under microscope
BANGKOK (TNA, Gazette): The Ministry of Transport has promised to launch a probe into budget airline Phuket Air following a 24-hour delay in a flight from Bangkok to London which left more than 400 passengers stranded on April 11.The seriousness with which the ministry is treating the matter was highlighted by the response of Deputy Transport Minister Phumtham Vejjayachai, who immediately…
- Phuket News
Sipa launches fast-track system for IT workers
BANGKOK: Foreign IT workers coming to Thailand will be the envy of employees in all other sectors with the launch today of a new online system by the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa). The system will allow the government to process foreign IT workers’ applications for work permits and extensions of stay in just three hours. Chalermcharn Yotviriyapanit, Head of…
- Phuket News
Drive to break transport “mafia’ launched
PHUKET: In an attempt to improve public transport on the island, Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura has announced his support for a new project aimed at putting hundreds of metered taxis on Phuket roads and launching an Airport Bus service.On April 1, the Governor presided over the launch of the “Taxi Phuket Development Project” at Central Festival, during which he also announced…
- Phuket News
Phuket Air to dump London for Amsterdam
BANGKOK: Phuket Air is to axe direct flights between Bangkok and London, citing the impending low season, and will be replacing the route with a new service between Bangkok and Amsterdam.The airline’s marketing and communications manager, Krona Visutrasai, told the Gazette the London flights had been “suspended temporarily”, and that the company intends to reintroduce the route, but with a…
- Phuket News
Phuket girls scoop literary awards
BANGKOK: It was a moment for Phuket to be proud of: the two winners of the Southern Thailand round of the Second Junior Impac Dublin Literary Awards last night scooped all-comers in the overall competition for Thailand.Thipratri Saenkam, 18, and Ella Micheler, 17, won 10,000 baht apiece for their entries in the Southern Thailand round, topping a field of 69…
- Phuket News
Work advice center to open in Patong
PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Employment Service Office (PESO) is to open a one-stop shop for advice on employment matters at Patong Hospital.Visitors to the center, which will open next Monday (April 4), will be able to study boards carrying information on jobs in Thailand and overseas, find out about training courses, speak with consultants about employment, work permit and social insurance…
- Phuket News
Danish royals to visit Phang Nga
PHUKET CITY: Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and his Australian-born wife, Crown Princess Mary, accompanied by Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and his wife Anne-Matte, are to visit Phang Nga on April 15 and 16.The party will inspect areas devastated by the December 26 tsunami and take part in a memorial service for those who died.Mr Anders Rasmussen has…
- Phuket News
Massive casino for Phang Nga Bay
PHANG NGA: In a development likely to be disturbing to some, the government announced this morning that Phang Nga Bay is to become the site for Thailand’s first legal casino.The announcement was made following a hastily-convened session of Cabinet in Bangkok late yesterday evening, at which ministers agreed to invest a whopping 30 billion baht in the mega-facility. It will be built…
- Phuket News
UK policeman dies in road smash
TAKUA PA: A British police officer who was a member of the the UK’s Disaster Victims Identification (DVI) team working in Phuket died yesterday in a minibus crash in Phang Nga. Two of his colleagues were seriously injured.The accident happened around 4pm yesterday, when the minibus in which the three officers were travelling was in collision with a Phuket-Bangkok tour…
- Phuket News
V/Gov appeals for massive donations
PHUKET CITY: Vice-Governor Winai Buapradit has requested hundreds of millions of baht, along with practical support, from foreign donors, the Thai private sector and the Thai government to help Phuket recover fully from the December 26 tsunami.During a meeting at Provinical Hall on March 24, V/Gov Winai outlined several situations in which the local authorities need help in putting right damage…
- Phuket News
Pre-Songkran re-opening for aquarium
AO MAKHAM: The Phuket Aquarium will reopen to the public on April 9, after being closed for renovations and improvements for two and a half years.The management is marking the reopening by offering free admission to all on April 9 and 10.Wannakiat Tubtimsang, Director of Phuket Marine Biological Center, which runs the aquarium, told the Gazette that 81 million baht…
- Phuket News
Phuket on high alert, but no tsunami
PHUKET: Seaside towns and villages around Phuket were evacuated last night after warnings from the Meteorological Department that there was a high possibility of another tsunami hitting the island. The warnings came after a massive earthquake jolted Sumatra, just 200 kilometers from the site of the temblor that caused the tsunami on December 26 last year. That wave killed an…
- Phuket News
Anti-terrorist system in place soon
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Immigration should have a new international anti-terrorism database system in operation by mid-year, the head of Thai Immigration told a press conference this morning.Speaking at a gathering of provincial Immigration Police chiefs at the Phuket Immigration Office, Immigration Commissioner Lt Gen Amarin Niemskul announced that Phuket would be one of three pilot provinces to get the new…
- Phuket News
Beauties and the four-wheel beasts
PHUKET: Demonstrating that there’s more to a beauty queen than good looks, the 44 competitors in the Miss Thailand Universe 2005 indulged in a little pistol shooting, raced all-terrian vehicles and rode on elephants.The activities, filmed by Channel 7 TV for broadcast on March 26, the day of final of the contest, took place at the Phuket Shooting Range. Yesterday…
- Phuket News
THAI offers packages to boost tourism
BANGKOK: The national carrier, Thai Airways International (THAI) today announced special domestic packages offered by its Royal Orchid Holidays subsidiary aimed at kickstarting the tourism-led economies of Phuket, Krabi and Trang Provinces following the tsunami.The “Southern Sun and Sea” round-trip packages will be available for departures from Bangkok to the three southern provinces with prices pegged at 5,000 baht per…
- Phuket News
Plea for Fiona to contact parents
TORBAY, UK: The parents of Englishwoman Fiona Hodgkinson – who is known to have arrived in Bangkok in February and indicated that she was planning to stay at the Siam Hut, near Bai Lan Bay (Lonely Bay) on Koh Chang – are asking for help in ensuring that she is safe. Ms Hodgkinson is 30 but looks younger. She is approximately…
- Phuket News
Police get training in handling bombs
PHUKET CITY: The Special Operations Unit (SOU) of Phuket Provincial Police are receiving some timely training in the use of blast suppression blankets – commonly known as bomb blankets – from Frank Boyd, a Supervisory Security Specialist with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service at the US Embassy in Bangkok. Pol Capt Charkrawat Buntaweekulsawat, the Chief of Phuket SOU, stressed that…
- Phuket News
Lookout towers to be built at beaches
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) intends to build 12 permanent watchtowers, where observers can watch for signs of future tsunamis, and also monitor the safety of tourists.Some of the towers will replace existing lifeguard stations; others will be completely new.OrBorJor Vice-President Sutin Lean-Udom said there would eventually be three towers around Kata and Karon; three in Patong…
- Phuket News
Japanese tsunami warning plan outlined
PHUKET: Japanese seismologists have recommended that a Japanese tsunami early warning system be installed in the deep ocean and linked to beaches along the Andaman coast of Thailand that were hit by the December 26 tsunami.The Tokyo University team, led by Professor Kimiro Meguro, unveiled the proposal during a meeting today at Phuket Provincial Hall with Vice-Governor Supachai Yuvaboon.The scientists…
- Phuket News
Tsunami blame report to be buried
BANGKOK (The Nation): The public will not hear whether the Meteorological Department failed in its duty to warn people about December’s devastating tsunami, Smith Thammasaroj, the chief of the investigation into the disaster, said yesterday.K. Smith said a report into the incident might never be written.He said that he would conceal a tsunami report from the public out of patriotism…
- Phuket News
Govt slashes Patong, Kamala rebuilding funds
PHUKET CITY: The Cabinet yesterday approved a budget of 200 million baht to rebuild Patong Beach and a further 100 million baht to rebuild Kamala Beach, together totaling less than a third of the original budgets Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkul requested.At a meeting of district chiefs and other top-ranking provincial officials, chaired by Governor Udomsak today, Vice-Governor Winai Buapradit announced…
- Phuket News
Quake worry sparks reservoir rethink
PHUKET: Plans to build a dam at Bang Niew Dum in Thalang District have been ditched and new plans are being drawn so that the dam will be more resistant to earthquake tremors.Wit Wonggamonchoon, Chief of the Surat Thani-based Irrigation Construction Region 5 office, told the Gazette, “The earthquake off Indonesia was 9.5 on the Richter scale.” Shocks from the…
- Phuket News
Special air deals for MICE passengers
PHUKET: To help boost tourism to Phuket, Bangkok Airways will provide 43,920 free tickets for government officers traveling from Bangkok to Phuket or vice-versa for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) between April 1 and September 30.In the same period, private-sector MICE travelers will be able to buy one-way Bangkok-Phuket tickets for just 500 baht and round-trip tickets for 1,000…
