Search Results for: bangkok
- Phuket News
THAI adjusts flights, Tiger Airways slashes fares
PHUKET: Thai national carrier THAI has denied claims that it has axed international flights to Phuket, although a spokesman has confirmed that two flights that previously stopped in Phuket now go to Bangkok instead.THAI’s District Sales Manager for Upper-Southern Thailand, Kalayapha Panich, told the Gazette, “Around 20 daily charter flights have been canceled, but THAI hasn’t canceled any [scheduled] flights.“THAI…
- Phuket News
Anti-malaria campaign launched
PA KHLOK: The Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) today launched an anti-malaria campaign at the football field in Pa Khlok.Officers from the PPHO, local villagers, teachers and students, as well as volunteers and members of the Pa Khlok Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor), joined forces to clear up places where standing water would allow mosquitoes to breed, and fumigated areas to…
- Phuket News
Call for skilled volunteers
BANGKOK (The Nation): Officials in charge of the tsunami disaster clean-up in Khao Lak are seeking volunteers to handle duties seen as part of the next step, as the region moves beyond basic search-and-rescue operations.They said it is now the turn of web designers, translators, typists, community assistance officers, radio disc jockeys and call center staff.More than 100 such people…
- Phuket News
Planeload of Saudi aid arrives
PHUKET CITY: Medical supplies, tents, sleeping mats, blankets and 75 tons of food donated by the government of Saudi Arabia arrived in Phuket yesterday.The aid items, flown to Phuket on a special relief flight, were handed over to Interior Minister Bhokin Bhalakula at Phuket Provincial Hall.Saudi government officers visited the tsunami-stricken areas of southern Thailand last week.Hani A Mominah, Chargé…
- Phuket News
Industry Minister pledges B2bn in SME support
PATONG: Industry Minister Pongsak Raktapongpaisan announced yesterday that the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion (OSMEP) has earmarked 2 billion baht from its Venture Capital Fund to buy between 10% and 49% interest in tsunami-affected SMEs in order to provide much-needed cash flow. There will be no interest levied on the capital injection nor will the OSMEP claim any…
- Phuket News
Governments begin relaxing travel advisories
PHUKET: Foreign governments have been relaxing their warnings against travelling to Phuket, although the change is by no means universal, and all government websites visited by the Gazette are still recommending that their nationals avoid Phi Phi and Khao Lak. The French government was one of the first to take Phuket off the pariah list. On Friday last week, the…
- Phuket News
British Embassy office moves
PHUKET: The British Embassy has announced that its office in Phuket, established to deal with the aftermath of the tsuanmi disaster, was today moved to the Royal Phuket City Hotel on Phang Nga Rd inPhuket City.The office may be reached 24 hours a day at Tel: 076-264473, 076-264474 or 076-264484 (Fax: 076-263993) and will be keep official office hours daily…
- Phuket News
FantaSea closes temporarily
KAMALA: The Phuket FantaSea tourist attraction will be closed until January 18, because of the tsunami.Managing Director Pin Kewkacha said the Kamala-based attraction had sustained damage totaling 60 to 70 million baht, and that, in addition, it had lost between 150 million and 200 million baht in revenue because of the slump in the number of visitors.As a result, the…
- Phuket News
B75m budget for homeless victims
PHUKET: The central government has budgeted 75 million baht to construct new homes for some 4,000 families left homeless in the six provinces affected by the December 26 tsunami. Speaking at a press conference at the Governor’s Office this afternoon, Interior Minister Bhokin Bhalakula said the aid will come from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Finance Ministry and private donations.K.…
- Phuket News
Now everyone can drive
PHUKET: AirAsia (motto “Now everyone can fly”) has announced that it is terminating its direct Phuket-Singapore flights effective today, due to lack of demand following the tsunami disaster of December 26.Public Relations Executive Jacqueline Mercader told the Gazette today that the number of passengers in recent days had fallen to as few as three per flight, and that the company…
- Phuket News
Call for info on missing persons
BANGKOK: Nordic embassies in Bangkok, representing Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, have called for all people with information about possible missing nationals to contact them.In a press release sent to the Gazette, the embassies pointed out that people seriously injured or too young to report themselves may be listed as still missing.Anyone with information of such people should notify…
- Phuket News
Account details for relief donations
PHUKET: The following are account details for those wishing to make monetary donations to help victims of the tsunami disaster in Phuket and surrounding areas. – Rotary Club of Patong: Siam Commercial Bank Public Ltd, Chao Fa Branch (Phuket); Account number: 633-2-49365-8; Account name: Rotary Club of Patong Beach (Tsunami Relief Fund); Swift Code: SICOTHBK; Telex number: 20455 SIAMFX TH…
- Phuket News
Huge progress made in Patong cleanup
PATONG: Just five days after the tsunami hit Patong Beach, astonishing progress has been made with the clean-up of the resort town.Tourists are back in the water or strolling along the sand, though the view is very different from the clutter that existed before the wave hit. With no beach chairs or umbrellas, one can now look along the entire…
- Phuket News
More help for tsunami victims
Support for those affected by Sunday’s tsunami disaster continues to increase.Private tour companies are offering free minibus services to return tourists from the Provincial Administration Organisation (OrBorJor) and nearby offices to their hotels or to Phuket International Airport.Bangkok Phuket Hospital is screening patients and is, with the help of Bangkok Airways, airlifting serious cases to Bangkok free of charge, marketing…
- Phuket News
Donations urgently needed
PHUKET: As the island continues its recovery from the tsunami that hit the island on Sunday morning, many hospitals and other organizations are calling for donations to assist victims. Hospitals: clothes, shoes, counseling: Wachira Phuket Hospital and other hospitals say there is an urgent need for shoes, shorts and T-shirts, especially in sizes large enough for foreigners. Shoes are the…
- Phuket News
Commercial airlines offer free evacuation flights
PHUKET: At least five Thai commercial airlines are offering free flights to Bangkok to assist the government effort in evacuating the dead and wounded from the island.Vasing Kittikul, Executive Vice-President of the Thai Airways (THAI) Commercial Department, said that THAI had already evacuated some 1,100 people to Bangkok today.Those injured or needing to arrange transport for the deceased should call 076-327274 or…
- Phuket News
THAI adds more special flights, bigger planes out of Phuket
PHUKET: Thai Airways has announced a change to larger aircraft and two special flights from Phuket to Bangkok.Mr Kanok Abhiradee, THAI’s President, said that the airline has taken the step to facilitate transportation of the injured and others affected by the natural disaster in the South of Thailand. The special arrangements take effect from today, 27 December, onwards.The special, additional…
- Phuket News
Latest toll: 66 dead, 691 injured
PHUKET: Kawee Sukunthamath, Chief of the Phuket Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (ODPM), early this evening said that 66 people were confirmed dead by the tidal wave which ravaged Phuket’s coastline this morning. Of the dead, 20 were foreigners. Another 691 people were reported injured, and 22 more were missing.Phuket International Airport resumed normal inbound and outbound flight services…
- Phuket News
Tourists tell of their tidal wave ordeal
PHUKET: Swedish tourist Kjell Sköld, of Gothenburg, has described how the rising waters of the wave trapped him, his wife Bibi, and their young children in their bungalow at Andaman Bay Resort, at Bang Tao.“The water went out then came back in very, very quickly, taking everything with it,” said Mr Sköld. “When the water came into the bungalow, we…
- Phuket News
Tidal wave toll rises
PHUKET: An unconfirmed 22 people have died and more than 1,000 have sought refuge at the Phuket Provincial Office in Phuket City after Phuket’s coast was swamped by a tidal wave caused by an earthquake off Sumatra this morning.Waters off Phuket surged onto land, washing away homes on the east coast and causing damage at resorts all along the west coast.The Gazette…
- Phuket News
Aids awareness campaign launched
PATONG: Over 30 people attended the launch of the “Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSM) Project”, an Aids awareness campaign aimed at increasing condom use among male sex workers in Patong.The seminar, held at Patong Hospital yesterday morning, was organized jointly by gay advocacy group the Rainbow Sky Organization of Thailand and Thai Red Cross Aids Research Center.The main…
- Phuket News
Phuket aquarium gets new lease of life
THALANG: Representatives of the Phuket Sea Shell Co met Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura yesterday to seek his support for the plan to build an aquarium on a 120-rai site near Surin Beach.The island’s sole aquarium, at Ao Makham and run by Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC), closed more than two years ago for renovations, which were supposed to take a year…
- Phuket News
“Target’ Phuket to receive more anti-terrorism equipment
PHUKET CITY: Phuket is to receive two “bomb blankets” worth 500,000 baht each from the US Embassy, to use in the event of a suspected terrorist attack.The blankets would be placed over suspected bombs to catch shrapnel and fragments in the event of an explosion.The blankets are due to be handed over to Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura on December 27 by…
- Phuket News
Minimum wage set to rise
PHUKET: Phuket’s lowest-paid workers could be in line to receive a New Year present – of an increase in the minimum wage of five baht a day.The Chief of the Provincial Labor Protection and Welfare Office, Patom Phetmanee, told the Gazette today it was likely that the minimum wage in Phuket will rise on January 1, from 168 baht a…
- Phuket News
Mystery surrounds Briton’s death
PHUKET: Mystery surrounds the death of Briton Stephen Harris, leaving his family saddened and confused. Mr Harris’s body was was discovered at the Monte Carlo Hotel on Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd on October 29. (See Gazette Online story here.) At that time Pol Lt Col Boonlert Onklang of Kathu Police Station told the Gazette that an initial inspection by a…
- Phuket News
Swiss visitor murdered in hotel
PATONG: A 61-year-old Swiss tourist was found dead of head wounds in her room at the Horizon Beach Resort Hotel yesterday. Police are treating her death as murder.Staff of the luxury hotel, located on Soi Kebsap, called police at about 1 am yesterday to say that they had found the body of hotel guest Jeanette Sager lying face down in…
- Phuket News
Trouble in the market
PATONG: Mayor Pian Keesin on Friday morning led a squad of Kathu police and more than 30 municipal officers to the Ko Kaew Market, where he ordered the police to detain Ruantong “Da” Wareesri, who is leading the vendors’ fight to keep the market open. K. Da, a committee member of the 240-strong Ko Kaew Market Association, organized a meeting…
- Phuket News
Phuket “should be special admin zone’ – NIDA
PHUKET: A group of researchers from the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida) today argued in favor of Phuket being turned into a special administrative zone with an elected Governor. At a seminar at the Phuket Merlin Hotel today, the Nida research team, led by Juree Vichit-Vadakan, said that results of a survey they conducted showed that 83% of 298…
- Phuket News
Jet-ski operators vow to fight ban
CHERNG TALAY: Veerachai Thonghom, chairman of the Phuket Jet-Ski Club, yesterday vowed to appeal to the central government in Bangkok to allow jet-ski operators to continue renting out their machines on Phuket’s beaches.K. Veerchai announced his intention yesterday after Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura refused to budge on his stated policy of reducing jet-skis in Phuket to zero by March 1,…
- Phuket News
US donates anti-terror gear
PHUKET CITY: As part of its fight against terrorism, the US Department of Defense has donated anti-terrorism equipment worth about 2 million baht to Royal Thai Police Region 8, which includes Phuket.In a ceremony at Phuket Provincial Police Headquarters this morning, David Turner, Chief of the US Defense Department’s Force Protection Detachment at the US Embassy in Bangkok, presented the…
