Phuket News
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Phuket sports: The boys from Brazil
PHUKET: For the second week in succession Phuket’s Fair Play League (FPL) used two different locations for their weekend fixtures with Youth Football Home hosting U14 matches and Quality Schools International (QSI) the venue for U11 matches. Four of the six teams competing in the U14 Division have a real chance of taking the title which makes winning remaining matches…
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World sports: What’s in a week?
PHUKET: Liverpool FC collected their first piece of silverware since their FA Cup victory six years ago last Sunday.Kenny Dalglish, who became only the seventh manager to win all three major domestic titles, heaped praise on Cardiff City, with the Premiership side needing penalties to take the first trophy of the year.Despite the manner of the win, (3-2 from a…
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Phuket’s Lomas impress at Bangkok 10s
PHUKET: The Phuket Lomas recently participated in the two-day Bangkok Youth Rugby 10s tournament at Pattana International School with great performances from both the U12 and U16 teams in their respective divisions. On the first day of competition the Lomas U16s faced cup favourites CIMB Cobra from Malaysia. It was a tense battle in which the Lomas matched their opposition…
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Dokset blames jealousy: Phuket Police
PHUKET: Stein Dokset, the long-term Phuket expat Norwegian charged with the murder of his ex-girlfriend Rungnapa Suktong, has told police that he accidentally killed his girlfriend in a jealousy-fueled rage, police said today. Mr Dokset was arrested on Tuesday after police found the acid-burnt decaying remains of a human body in his basement bathroom. He later confessed that the remains…
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Phuket PSU chosen for Thai Cabinet meeting
PHUKET: The Phuket campus of the Prince of Songkla University (PSU) yesterday was selected as the venue for the upcoming Thai Cabinet meeting on March 19-20. Sombat Wattanapanich, Cabinet Secretary and Adviser to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, was accompanied on a tour of the potential venues on the island. Leading the entourage was Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha, Phuket Vice Governor…
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Senators “worried’ about Phuket beating, cheating, intimidating tourists
PHUKET: A delegation of senators from Bangkok yesterday were treated to a grave description of the problems plaguing Phuket’s tourism industry, including jet-ski ripoffs.The senators, all members of the Senate Standing Committee on Tourism, agreed that everything from the intimidation and beating of tourists to the lack of a strong public transportation system were having a serious effect on Phuket’s…
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Hookah bars targeting Phuket youth
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Office is planning to crack down on hookah bars and other businesses catering to a growing demand among island youths to smoke flavored tobacco known as shisha. The proliferation of venues offering shisha to youths has risen dramatically over the past year and the situation must be quickly addressed, a provincial panel heard recently. New Phuket…
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Phuket sports: Former FC Phuket player netted in Immigration raid
PHUKET: Former FC Phuket midfielder Abdoul Coulibaly was among 27 Africans arrested on Wednesday during an Immigration Police crackdown in Bangkok. The arrests were first reported on sport.mthai.com, a Thai-language website. According to the report, 25-year-old Abdoul was detained for not having proof of compliance with a requirement by Immigration that all foreigners residing in the Kingdom report their address…
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Rally round Phuket
PHUKET: Following the very successful Grumpy Old Men’s Club (GOMS) rally and car treasure hunt last year, the organizers this year have invited a number of Phuket’s foremost business, social and community organizations to join a great family day out and raise funds for their organization’s ongoing projects. The now-renamed Phuket Invitational Car Rally (PICR), to be held on March…
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Phuket driver plows into 7-Eleven store
PHUKET: A man accidentally rammed his car into a 7-Eleven convenience store in Phuket early yesterday morning, smashing the shopfront window and injuring two men, one seriously. Just before 2am, Thalang Police were notified of the accident, at the 7-Eleven inside the PTT gas station on Srisoonthorn Road in Cherng Talay. Arriving at the scene, officers found a Phuket-registered Honda…
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A brave young man
PHUKET: “My dad always said to me that if you do your best it’s enough, and I think you lot did your best tonight.” Ed Speed, the 14-year-old son of Gary Speed, gave a lifting speech to the Wales national football team after their defeat by Colombia on Wednesday night. The match was organized as a memorial to Gary who…
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Phuket Police probe land titles as Norwegian Dokset’s motive for murder
PHUKET: Murder suspect Stein Havard Dokset today re-enacted his actions from nearly three years ago to show Phuket police the sequence of events that led to the death of Rungnapa Suktong. Arrested on Tuesday after a police raid discovered decaying human remains in a plastic trash can his basement bathroom, Mr Dokset today denied all but one member of the…
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Swedish man’s fall “accidental’, say witnesses
PHUKET: The Swedish tourist who died in hospital after falling from a third-floor hotel balcony last Friday night likely fell by accident, witnesses have told the Phuket Gazette. Matthias Andersson, who was in his 30s, had gone out to a nearby bar for 15 minutes before returning to his room, hotel staff at the Welcome Inn told the Gazette. Channisa…
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Phuket tourism high season draws annual blood-drive low
PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center is calling for blood donations to replenish stocks to counter the annual fall in donations during Phuket’s tourism high season. Each year from January through April, the volume of blood collected falls short of target levels, says Vichote Buraphachanok of the Blood Center. “The main reason that we fall short of our target levels…
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Ahoy Phuket! Ao Chalong Yacht Club calls for assistance to get ship shape
PHUKET: The Ao Chalong Yacht Club is calling for volunteers to lend a hand at a “working bee” on Saturday, March 3 – and is putting on free beer and a sausage sizzle for those who turn out to help. “Some of the jetty floats need replacing urgently because they are sinking. Floats that are being used to jack up…
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Phuket sports: Weekly round-up by The Golf Guru
PHUKET: The World Golf Championship (WGC) was played this week in the US. In fact 66 per cent of the World Championships have been played in the States which seems strange as it’s meant to be the World championships. I won’t go on about the old chestnut of the World Series baseball being for only American teams! The 2012 World…
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Phuket Live Wire: An update on international download speeds in Phuket
PHUKET: Time for an update on how Phuket’s doing for real world, measured international internet speeds. I’m not talking about the advertised 10 megabits or 100 megabits-per-second lines that only exist in marketing drivel and a few internet service provider’s fantasies. I’m talking about speeds that you and I are measuring, in the wild, right here, every day. The short…
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Pregnant mother, family killed in Phuket road accident
PHUKET: A family of three from Uttaradit province died when their motorcycle was hit by a pick-up truck in the rainy conditions in Phuket last night. Also killed was the unborn child of the pregnant mother. Thalang Police were notified of an accident near the entrance to the Baan Wana housing estate on Srisoonthorn Road, about three kilometers west of…
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Phuket welcomes newborn elephant “Pang Saifon’
PHUKET: The owners of the Kinnari Elephant Camp in Rawai this morning announced the birth of a baby elephant at the camp. Pang Saifon, born at 1:49am, is the second elephant to be born at the camp. The newborn weighs 75 kilograms and is in perfect health, said Jirayu Nirunwiroj, a veterinarian from the Phuket Livestock Office’s Animal Health Development…
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Phuket Tourist Police Volunteers warn of bag snatchers
PHUKET: Following a spate of snatch thefts, the Phuket Tourist Police Foreign Volunteers today issued an advisory warning tourists to keep close watch on their valuables and be on the lookout for potential bag-snatchers. Bruce Anderson, Team Leader of the Phuket Tourist Police Foreign Volunteers, told the Phuket Gazette that there have been more bag snatchings reported by foreign tourists…
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Phuket’s Soi Dog Foundation expands into Bangkok
PHUKET: Phuket’s renowned animal welfare charity Soi Dog Foundation (SDF) has joined forces with the Bangkok-based Soi Cats and Dogs organization (SCAD) to launch operations in the Thai capital. SCAD, a well established and highly regarded Thai foundation, will be integrated into SDF and Phimpakarn Petpichetchien appointed General Manager of the new operation, SDF’s founder John Dalley announced in press…
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Separate shootings leave two dead in Phuket
PHUKET: Two people died in separate shootings in Phuket last night. The first incident was an ambush attack in front of the Thepkrasattri Municipal Market, just west of the Thalang Junction on Don Chom Tao Road. A 25-year-old man identified only as “Pisut” was driving a motorbike along Don Chom Tao Road towards the junction at about 9:15pm when he…
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Phuket road victim identified as Aussie model
PHUKET: The young woman who died in a motorbike accident in Phuket early on Saturday morning has been identified as Lana O’Connell, a successful young model from the Gold Coast, Australia. Miss O’Connell was riding a motorbike along Patak Road toward Chalong Circle with her long-term partner Kenneth Trivett at about 3:30am when they struck a motorbike with sidecar. Mr…
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Jet-skis, rip-offs and noise pollution: Phuket’s honorary consuls go through the motions
PHUKET: Jet-ski scams, noise pollution in Patong and real estate rip-offs were among the issues raised by honorary consuls during their quarterly meeting with Phuket government officers yesterday. The meeting, held in the main meeting room of Phuket Provincial Hall, was chaired by Phuket Vice Governor Sommai Prijasilpa. Dr Sommai, the first-ever person to chair the meeting in English, was…
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Phuket sports: Golf guru weekly round-up
PHUKET: THE media hype around the USPGA tour this week wasn’t enough to get Phil Mickelson into the winner’s circle two weeks in a row. The Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California was the venue for the Northern Trust Open, formally known as the Los Angles Open, less than a block away from Sunset Boulevard. The Riviera C.C. is a…
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Thanachart close in on Portrait FC
PHUKET: THE Adult Futsal League (AFL) season nine presented by Thanachart Bank entered week five at Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club (TSLC) last Thursday with a full compliment of games played in both divisions. Jitjongrut took on a struggling Honda in the evening’s first Premier Division fixture, well aware that the game was a good opportunity for them to climb…
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Shakers and Rugantino in the mix for Phuket Super Six
PHUKET: Round two of the Phuket Super Six League (PSSL) produced more evenly contested matches last week at Football Island, but the goal count continues to rise. The first fixture saw league leaders Pita Bar Phuketeers and the experienced Morning Star, in their first league outing, play a guarded game that ended with honors divided. After a goaless first half,…
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Underpass plans start driving forward
Phuket: Highways Department officials last week presented to local residents their preferred option for a two-lane underpass at the Bang Khu Intersection, north of Phuket Town. The news received mixed reviews, as the initial proposal was to build a flyover at the busy junction, which handles nearly all traffic to and from the airport. Krabi Office of Highways Deputy Director…
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Phuket hotel barman dies in motorbike crash
PHUKET: A hotel barman died instantly last night when his motorbike slammed into a utility pole in Koh Kaew, north of Phuket Town. Phuket City Police were notified of the accident, opposite the Isuzu showroom on Thepkrasattri Road, at about 11:45pm. Phuket Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers rushed to the scene to find 40-year-old Phichit Masmalai lying face down on the…
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Phuket Police round up Rohingya refugees in Nai Harn
PHUKET: Chalong Police have rounded up 90 starving Rohingya boat people who came ashore in the south of Phuket this morning, but 12 more remain unaccounted for. The Rohingya, all males, were on their way to Malaysia when they ran out of food and their wooden boat began to fall apart at sea, forcing them to come ashore at Nai…
Phuket is a province in the south of Thailand. Phuket's beaches face the Andaman Sea allowing the west coast beaches fantastic sunsets right throughout the year. If you're looking for news in Phuket, go to thethaiger.com/phuket Or follow our instant news in our Facebook pages.
The good news is that Phuket is famous for its foodie scene with an enormously diverse range of local and international foods - Phuket and southern favorites, street food along with international choices catering for the 12 million visitors to the island each year. Thaiger follows Phuket news and information 24 hours a day with regular updates.
Phuket is only 'just' an island with a 300 metre bridge linking it to Thailand's mainland. We're always reporting in the news that the channel beneath is frequently dredged to maintain Phuket's status as an island. On the other side of Sarasin Bridge is the Province of Phang Nga.
Getting to Phuket is easy as the island has land, air and sea connections. Phuket is also used as a take-off point for local island trips as Thailand's largest island is surrounded by over 30 pristine islands. Koh Phi Phi and the famous Maya Bay are always in the news and would be the best known of the island's just off Phuket's shores.
Phuket is an island and a province. It's the largest island in Thailand – 48 km north to south, 21 km east to west.
It's about 20% smaller, in area, than Singapore but much less densely populated. Whilst the island nation of Singapore boasts a population of nearly 6 million, Phuket has a permanent population of around 400-450,000 (but varies a lot with the influx of tourists and a workforce that is always changing). Most of Phuket remains jungle and tropical rainforest despite an acceleration of development over the past 20 years.
Unlike some of Thailand's other popular islands (that are in the Gulf of Thailand), the news is that Phuket is located in the Andaman Sea.
Phuket is 878 km north of the equator.
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