Phuket News
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Phuket’s Tuptim survives marathon 18-hour surgery
PHUKET: Eight-month-old Tuptim Jadngooluem has been given a second chance at life after she successfully underwent surgery at Ramathibodi Hospital in Bangkok yesterday. Tuptim, who was diagnosed at three months with a terminal liver condition known as biliary obstruction, has spent over a month in hospital awaiting a parental donor liver transplant to save her life. To keep her baby…
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“Gruesome twosome’ arrested for Phuket security guard murder
PHUKET: Police yesterday arrested two teenage gang members for the murder of a Phuket security guard at a municipal parking lot last month. Phitakpong Chaetaphai and Namchok Saetan, both 19, were taken by police this morning to re-enact the events that led to security guard Winai Buathongkham being killed by a single bullet to the head. Police said that Phitakpong…
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Phuket Reminder: QSI fun run on Saturday
PHUKET: The ninth annual QSI International School Phuket Fun Run will be held at Bang Wad Dam in Kathu on Saturday. Organizers expect more than 200 children and 50 adults to compete. Students from all schools in Phuket are welcome to take part and trophies will be awarded to the top three schools finishing on the highest points. All races…
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Phuket Airport director under investigation
PHUKET: The director of Phuket International Airport was transferred from his post yesterday amid a disciplinary investigation regarding a group of South American passengers who flew out of the airport without passports. Airports of Thailand (AoT) told the Phuket Gazette today that Prathuang Sornkham was been transferred during the investigation and will become a “Senior Specialist 10” AoT executive. AoT…
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Phuket jam: Patong motorists stuck in first gear
PHUKET: The new one-way traffic flow in Patong has caused havoc for some Phuket motorists. Traffic jams have been reported at several junctions that were affected by the change. “[To] those who thought the old way was crazy just because it allowed two-way traffic on too many east-west cross roads, check out how smooth traffic now flows at the northern…
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Eight Phuket residential projects approved
PHUKET: Construction of eight new projects was approved at a meeting of a Phuket provincial committee on residential estate development yesterday. The meeting, held at the Phuket Land Office, was chaired by Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha. All of the eight projects considered by the committee were approved, namely: 1. Jomthong Thalang, by Jomthong Property Co Ltd 2. Promphun Paklok, by…
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Phuket caddie killers behind bars
PHUKET: Four people have been arrested for last month’s shooting murder of a Phuket golf caddie. Ms Amornrat Petchtrong, 26, was killed by a single gunshot to the head outside Mission Hills golf club in the early hours of December 7. Four suspects, Ms Prathum Chumrat, Mr Paisan Preecha, Mr Pongsak Boorana and a 17-year-old boy, were presented at a…
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Phuket marine center moves to save bleached coral
PHUKET: The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) will today request that parts of the Similan and Surin national parks be closed to protect dying corals there. DMCR Director-General Kasemssan Jinnawaso announced yesterday that his department would file the request with the National Parks, Wildlife and Plants Conservation Department, which manages the national parks. “We will request closure of…
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New Patong one-way system now in place
PHUKET: Police launched the new one-way traffic system in Patong on Saturday, with one change from the original plan: Soi Ruamjai is now one-way heading toward the beach, not one-way away from the beach. Kathu Police Superintendent Arayapan Pukbuakhao explained to the Phuket Gazette that having the road heading away from the beach caused traffic jams on Prachanukroh Rd at…
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Phuket to host Deep South food fair
PHUKET: Phuket Town will host the second-annual Five Southern Border Provinces’ Product Fair from January 31 to February 6 at the central stage area at Saphan Hin. Boonchoke Khanabkeaw, Assistant Director of the Ministry of Industry office in Songkhla, said the event will showcase food products from the five southern border provinces of Songkhla, Satun, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. Hosted…
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Confessed Apple, Nokia pirate back on Phuket streets
PHUKET: A man who has confessed to charges of selling fake brand-name mobile phones, including imitation Nokia and Apple devices, is back on the streets of Phuket after posting bail yesterday. Led by Phuket Provincial Police Deputy Superintendent Komol Wattaraporn, police yesterday presented suspect Thanapon “Oh” Lertaen to the media at a press conference at Phuket City Police Station. On…
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POLL: Phuket readers in standoff over police checkpoints
PHUKET: Despite this year’s new year holiday road toll being only half that of last year, Phuket Gazette readers are not convinced that the extra police road checkpoints during the ‘Seven Days of Danger’ road safety campaign actually made Phuket roads safer. Readers were asked: “Four people died on Phuket roads during the recently-completed Seven Days of Danger road safety…
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Special Report: Phuket sea gypsies fight for their rights
PHUKET: More than 70 representatives from 30 sea gypsy communities across the six Andaman provinces met officials in Phuket earlier this week to voice grievances and defend their way of life. The meeting, at Phuket Community Hall followed the arrest and release of 17 sea gypsy fishermen of the Pramongkit clan arrested in late December for fishing inside Had Jao…
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Phuket Blues Fest artists nominated for top accolades
PHUKET: Curtis Salgado, one of the headline acts to play at the Phuket International Blues Rock Festival next month, has been nominated for the Soul Blues Male Artist of the Year award at the 2011 Blues Music Awards. The awards, the blues music equivalent of the Grammys, will be held in Memphis, Tennessee, on May 5. The nomination follows Salgado’s…
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Phuket yellow shirts in wild show of patriotism over Cambodia
PHUKET: About 30 local yellow-shirt activists yesterday put on a show in the center of Phuket Town mocking the Thai government’s handling of the recent arrest and trial of seven Thais by the Cambodian authorities. The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) members also denounced Cambodian premier Hun Sen, claiming the Thais were arrested on land that belongs to Thailand. The…
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Phuket Andaman Airshow dazzles the crowds at Phuket Airpark
PHUKET: The Phuket Andaman Airshow and Fly-In returned yesterday to Phuket Airpark, with a crowd of roughly 400 spectators and private aircraft from all over Southeast Asia. This year’s event, which celebrated the extension of the Airpark’s runway to 800 neters, had some special bonuses, including a heart-pounding show of aerobatics, an equally exciting appearance 14 bikini-clad competitors for the…
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Phuket’s Kamala Festival kicks off
PHUKET: The Kamala Festival 2011 began last night, marking the start of three days of free entertainment at Kamala Public Park. The event began with a sunset parade by Phuket FantaSea, from its showgrounds to Kamala Beach. Vice Governor Somkiat Sangkaosuttirat officiated at the opening of the event, before the live entertainment began on stage. First up was a show…
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Phuket announces recycling drive
PHUKET: Phuket’s Wichit Municipality will hold a two-day recycling drive this week as part of its ‘sort, re-use and recycle’ campaign to reduce the volume of solid waste sent to Saphan Hin for incineration. All members of the public are encouraged to sort recyclable wastes such as glass, tin and plastic and bring it to the children’s playground at the…
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Phuket surf claims two lives in one day
PHUKET: The drowning deaths of two tourists at Karon Beach earlier today has prompted another warning from Phuket lifeguards to foreigners about entering the surf when red warning flags are flying. On a day of unseasonably high tides on Phuket’s west coast, two men lost their lives while another man remains in serious condition at Phuket International Hospital. Erik Larsen,…
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Brit gang-rape report sparks Phuket police warning
PHUKET: Following reports of a 23-year-old British woman being gang raped near Patong, police are urging young women to exercise caution while on holiday in Phuket. Patong Police Superintendent Arayapan Pukbuakhao today told the Phuket Gazette, “It is hard to prevent this kind of situation from happening. Sometimes tourists let their guard down to strangers. Tourists should be careful and…
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Get ready for the weekend in Phuket
PHUKET: The latest edition of the Phuket Gazette is on sale now. Pick up a copy of Phuket’s most popular local newspaper for lots of interesting articles not available online, including: NEWS – Upcoming MICE event to be largest ever held on the island. – Efforts to secure UN World Heritage status for Phuket Town buildings. – Sea gypsies fight…
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Phuket Police pounce on porn pirates
PHUKET: Coordinated raids on a counterfeit video manufacturer and three sales outlets have led to the arrest of six people and seizure of more than 30,000 discs, some of them pornographic. Fifty provincial and Region 8 police officers divided into four teams set out from Phuket Provincial Police headquarters at 7pm on Wednesday night to make the arrests. Joining them…
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Phuket Red Cross draw blesses the lucky
PHUKET: Atiphon “Tu” Wongmaha, the human resources manager at the Blue Marine Resort & Spa in Kalim, has won the top prize in the annual Phuket Red Cross Fair lucky draw: a townhouse valued at 2.5 million baht. The two-storey townhouse in the Phanason Villa housing estate at Bor Rae in Wichit covers 21 square wah. The 37-year-old Rayong native…
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Phuket Governor launches night venue crackdown
PHUKET: The Phuket Governor has warned entertainment venues to abide by the law – or suffer the consequences. The warning from Governor Tri Augkaradacha comes after officers from the Phuket Provincial Office and Muang District Office teamed up to raid popular nightspots across the district last week. Muang District covers Phuket Town and surrounding sub-districts, running all the way south…
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Phuket revelers gatecrash curry shop
PHUKET: The owners of a mom-and-pop store in Phuket got a rude awakening early this morning when a car crashed through the front of their home. Thalang Police received a report at 2:45am that a car had crashed into the shopfront of a home on the northbound side of Thepkrasattri Road, opposite the electrical substation in Baan Lipon, Thalang. Led…
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Phuket “lucky license plates’ to go under the hammer
PHUKET: The island’s high-rollers will descend upon The Metropole hotel in Phuket Town on February 26 and 27 for the sixth annual “Lucky” License Plate Auction. Organized by the Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO), the event will see 301 license plates go to the highest bidders. The auction will be held from 8:30am to 4:30pm in the Prapitak Grand Ballroom.…
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Phuket Punchline Comedy returns next month
PHUKET: Following the success of its sell-out shows last year, the Phuket Punchline Comedy Club returns for its first show of 2011 at the Holiday Inn Resort in Patong next month. Three of the sharpest comedic minds on the UK comedy circuit will take to the stage on February 23. Among the comedians lined up is Nick Doody, rated as…
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BREAKING NEWS: Phuket tour van crashes in Phang Nga
PHUKET: Seven people, including at least five Koreans, are receiving hospital treatment after their Phuket tour van slid off the road and into an embankment in Phang Nga earlier today. Lt Col Songwut Khunjun of the Takuatung District Police said the crash occurred on the Petchkasem Highway in Krasom subdistrict. The vehicle was on its way to Surakul Pier when…
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EXCLUSIVE: One-on-one in Phuket with Bob Sinclar
PHUKET: More than 3,000 music fans flocked to Famous Nightclub in Patong last Tuesday to see French DJ Bob Sinclar – the man behind the worldwide hits Love Generation and World, Hold On. Here’s the Phuket Gazette‘s exclusive interview with the man himself. If one DJ has stood out from the rest over the past decade it would be Bob…
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New development plan for Phuket’s Saphan Hin
PHUKET: A proposal has been put forward to develop a multi-purpose tourist center at Saphan Hin in Phuket Town. The plan was pitched to Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha by Norwegian maritime engineering company LMG Marin at a meeting last week. Saphan Hin is Phuket Town’s largest park and its seafront has long been earmarked as a location for a major…
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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