Search Results for: Tak
- Phuket News
Yacht skipper blasts mob violence
THALANG: The skipper of a 30-meter superyacht has blasted villagers in the north of Phuket for “lawlessness” after a member of his crew was beaten up by a mob on Sunday evening, and was then forced to apologize to them for driving through their village too fast. After brushing aside security staff at the Yacht Haven marina, the mob of…
- Phuket News
Governor moves Muang District Chief
PHUKET TOWN: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi has ordered the replacement of Muang District Chief Somsak Sanyanuphap with Wirachai Chanpen of Phang Nga province. The transfer order, issued on Friday, is the first demonstration of the new power of the Governor CEO, granted as part of Thailand’s experiment in giving provincial governments more autonomy. Under the new system, the Governor CEO…
- Phuket News
Elephant hurls keeper, injures tourist
PHUKET: A disgruntled elephant at Phuket Zoo picked up and threw its keeper with its trunk on November 6, causing Scottish tourist Louise Fletcher to fall from the elephant’s back. She was then kicked by the elephant, resulting in serious leg injuries. Recovering at Phuket International Hospital, Ms Fletcher yesterday recalled the incident. “A worker at the zoo suggested I…
- Phuket News
Phuket Town wins prize
PHUKET: Phuket Municipality has won the King Prajadhipok (Rama VII) Prize, awarded to local governments that listen to the views of local people and give them the opportunity to take part in the running of the town. Phuket Municipality was one of just four municipalities in the whole country to win the prize, out of 432 towns that entered. The…
- Phuket News
Gov sparks furore with Phi Phi proposal
PHUKET: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi has landed in the middle of a war of words after suggesting that the central government should buy the Phi Phi islands, kick out private businesses and run the islands as a state enterprise. During a speech about the CEO system at a Thai Rak Thai Party seminar on Friday at the Patong Beach Hotel,…
- Phuket News
Aussies dominate Laguna Triathlon
LAGUNA PHUKET: Once again, Australian competitors dominated this year’s 8th Thai Airways Laguna Phuket Triathlon, taking first and second places in both men’s and women’s competitions. Twenty-two-year-old Courtney Atkinson, from Australia, stormed in first to claim victory in an overall unofficial time of 2 hours, 30 minutes and 37 seconds. “It’s the nicest place I’ve ever raced,” Atkinson said afterwards.…
- Phuket News
Seized speedboat to be auctioned
PHUKET: A nine-meter British-built speedboat with twin 200hp Mercury engines, seized from a dive company in Ao Chalong earlier this year, will be put up for auction on November 8 at the Phuket Customs Region 5 offices on Phuket Rd. As with previous vessels put up for auction, the speedboat, “Seafarer”, was seized for alleged non-payment of Thailand’s crushing boat…
- Phuket News
Road injuries toll nearing 10,000
PHUKET: Road deaths in Phuket between January 1 and September 20 are down on the past two years, according to the latest government statistics, but the number of people injured this year is heading rapidly for five figures. According to statistics from the Wachira, Thalang and Patong government hospitals, 11 people died as a result of traffic accidents between August…
- Phuket News
Top businessman dies of heart attack
PHUKET: Banlue Tantiwit, former President of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) died this morning of a heart attack. Phuket-born K. Banlue, who was 70, was also the Founding Chairman of the Phuket Rotary Club, a former Chairman of the Kathu Shrine and Chairman of the Phuket Sports Association. A well-known businessman, he was Chairman of the Board of the…
- Phuket News
Top brass tackle crimes against tourists
PHUKET TOWN: Top police commanders met today to discuss how to tackle problems affecting tourism in Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi. Speaking after the meeting, Pol Gen Kovit Wattana, Deputy Commissioner-General (Crime Suppression 1), said that the meeting was held to find ways of ensuring tourists’ safety, including ways to stop people cheating tourists, and ways to protect the environment.…
- Phuket News
Experts enter burned-out ammo dump
KORAT (AFP): Thai army experts today entered the smoking ruins of a badly damaged ammunition dump to search for victims of yesterday’s massive explosions that are thought to have killed at least 13 people and injured 80. The warehouse complex in Pak Chong District was torn apart yesterday when a truck overturned, setting off a deadly chain reaction that engulfed…
- Phuket News
Slow economy boosts Festival crowds
PHUKET: Slow times in the Thai economy and higher unemployment have had an effect on the Vegetarian Festival, with the number of people going to Chinese shrines for free vegetarian meals sharply up on last year’s figures. Partly, shrine spokespeople said, this was because they could save money. But it was also because believers felt that by taking part in…
- Phuket News
New park fees spark fury among dive firms
PHUKET: The good news is that the discriminatory fee system for entry into the Similan and Surin National Parks has been abolished. Thais and foreigners will pay the same fee. The bad news is that, from November 15, the entry fee for all divers will be 200 baht. And on top of that they must also pay a user fee…
- Phuket News
CSD arrests Phuket policeman for murder
PHUKET: Officers from the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) in Bangkok yesterday arrested a fellow officer working in the Phuket Forensic Science Department on charges of murder and robbery. Pol Lt Col Chatkanok Keawsongsang, Deputy Commissioner of the CSD, explained that it was alleged that Pol Sgt Maj Soonthorn Krodtem stopped an airport limousine driven by 26-year-old Sampakorn Temtup of Krabi…
- Phuket News
Injured writer’s family appeals for funds
PHUKET: Friends and family of writer Karla Doberstein yesterday appealed for people to help Karla with her rising medical bills by making donations into an account specially set up to pay the hospital. Ms Doberstein, 38, fell down the stairs in her home late at night on October 3, striking the back of her head as she fell. She was…
- Phuket News
Tangled trouble in Paradise
PHUKET TOWN: Thirty owners of businesses in the market area of Patong’s Paradise Complex descended on the Consumer Protection Office at the Provincial Hall on Monday morning to protest construction by the Royal Paradise Hotel, which they say has blocked access to their shops with thigh-high walls made of concrete blocks. The protest is the latest turn in a tale…
- Phuket News
Blackout slated for Kathu-Patong areas tomorrow
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA) has announced that a scheduled blackout will take place tomorrow (October 17), from 10 am to 4 pm, to allow staff to work safely on high-voltage power lines. The area affected will run from the Caltex gasoline station at the intersection of Wichit Songkhram Rd and Phra Phuket Kaew Rd in Kathu, to…
- Phuket News
Another tourist drowns
KARON: Philip Sams, a 40-year-old British tourist, drowned off Karon Beach in front of the South Sea Resort on Saturday afternoon. Pol Maj Jetsada Sangsuri told the Gazette that Mr Sams was swimming with his girlfriend, Wendy Murrin, around 3 pm. Ms Murrin returned to the beach, but Mr Sams chose to stay in the surf. Soon thereafter, he was…
- Phuket News
Forensic tests “will nail Krabi murder suspect’
KRABI: Police are waiting for the results of an autopsy and other forensic tests which, they believe, will cement their case against boatman Kasem “Maew” Dumdee, accused of the murder of German tourist Cao Ghu on October 1. These results should be delivered to Krabi from Bangkok in two or three days, said Pol Lt Col Somdej Sukkarn, the case…
- Phuket News
Industry standards to be set for sea walking
PHUKET: The local Tourist Business and Guide Registration Office (GRO) is to set up a committee to regulate the sea walking industry, based on the recommendations of an environmental impact study on coral reefs. The announcement was made on Monday, after GRO officials met with officers of provincial government departments involved in overseeing the industry, including Phuket’s Fisheries Office, Harbor…
- Phuket News
Boatman arrested for killing tourist in Krabi
KRABI: Police arrested a suspect this morning in connection with the murder of the 21-year-old German student, Cao Ghu, who disappeared Monday morning and was found floating face-down in the sea near Koh Gai two days later. Cao Ghu, who was Vietnamese by descent, was an Asian Culture major at Bonn University. She was visiting Thailand for the fourth time…
- Phuket News
Newlyweds in hostage drama
PATONG: Police from Kathu Police Station were called to the Jaranya Guesthouse on Rat-U-Thit Rd on Tuesday to find a honeymooning Briton standing in his wrecked hotel room, holding a broken beer bottle to his bride’s throat. Pol Capt Ampolwat Sangruang told the Gazette that his officers rushed the man, Mark Francis O’Reilly, 36, and managed to free his 18-year-old…
- Phuket News
Police crack mobile phone racket
PHUKET TOWN: Nine people were arrested yesterday in a series of raids by police from Phuket and Bangkok on people offering cheap phone calls. The raids on the phone call kiosks – small tables offering calls to anywhere in Thailand for 2 baht a minute – were part of a joint taskforce operation to crack a criminal ring using forged…
- Phuket News
Gay cook suicides over missing fiancé
PHUKET TOWN: In the third suicide reported in Phuket within a week, heartbroken Jitpanu Pattana-anusorn, a 26-year-old cook at the Boonlert Beer Garden on Chana Charoen Rd, committed suicide on Tuesday because, police surmised, he had been abandoned by his gay lover. Pol Capt Anukul Nookate of the Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that he received a call…
- Phuket News
Ten monks held in drug bust
BANGKOK (AFP): Five Thai monks have been defrocked after confessing to using methamphetamines (‘ya bah’), while another five caught in a drug raid also face being ousted from religious life, police said this morning. Acting on a complaint from local worshippers, police yesterday carried out urine tests on 26 monks living at a temple in the central province of Ratchaburi.…
- Phuket News
Bridge completion delayed
PHUKET TOWN: Completion of the new bridge over the Klong Bangyai on Kra Rd will take 70 days more than originally scheduled. Fawn Boonkatunyu, Chief of the Technical Office of the Phuket Town Municipality, explained, “We found that a sewer runs right under the place where one of the legs of the bridge is supposed to be anchored, so the…
- Phuket News
Urgent debate over national park fees
BANGKOK: With the concessionary scheme on national park entry charges for tour and dive operators about to come to an end, operators around the country have urged the Royal Forestry Department (RFD) to reconsider the full fees, which they regard as being too high. On October 1 last year the RFD introduced new park entry fees for foreigners: 200 baht…
- Phuket News
Maldivian wins Kata surfing contest
KATA: Hussain Areef of the Maldives won the shortboard division of the third annual Quiksilver Phuket Surfing Contest, held at Kata Yai Beach at the weekend. Areef outscored 47 other competitors from all over the world. Briton Lee Dowse came second while another Maldivian, Mohamed Fayaz, came third. Local surfing prodigy, 12-year-old Simon de Maria, who has competed in the…
- Phuket News
CEO to have power to move district chiefs
PHUKET: The Ministry of Interior has announced that the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of five provinces, who will take over from provincial governors on October 1 in an experimental program aimed at giving provincial leaders more autonomy, will be able to authorize the transfer of district office chiefs who are deemed not to be doing their job properly. Under the…
- Phuket News
US Embassy closes after NY carnage
PHUKET (Gazette, AFP): American citizens have been asked to refrain from calling their embassy in Bangkok following the carnage in New York City and Washington. Will Hebler, American Consular Warden in Phuket, told the Gazette, “I have received a call to say that the US embassy in Bangkok is closed until further notice. “A desk is manned, but US citizens…
