Phuket News
Phuket news, politics, business, tourism, and nightlife—stay updated with breaking stories, events, and expat updates from Thailand’s top island destination. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Phuket news source.
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Seven-year-old drowns in Phuket pool
RASSADA, PHUKET: An unsupervised seven-year-old boy drowned in a swimming pool at the Top Land housing estate on Saturday.Police were alerted to the incident about 2pm by residents of the estate, located near the Tungka elementary school in tambon Rassada.They rushed to the scene with emergency workers and found the boy, identified as Prawit Manapreecha-ngamlert, a student at Ketho School,…
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Phuket coastal developments under scrutiny
PHUKET: Phuket governor Wichai Phraisa-ngob has backed concerns raised in an environmental impact assessment report that claims continued, unchecked development of Phuket coastal areas would destroy marine life and negatively impact local communities.The governor’s comments came after the release of the report last week compiled by a panel of Phuket-based environmental experts, including scientists from the Phuket Marine Biological Center…
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Phuket based celebrity chef Keith Floyd passes away
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette has learned that Phuket-based celebrity chef Keith Floyd, owner of Floyd’s Brasserie at Burasari Resort Patong, Phuket, has died following a heart attack on Monday at his home in Dorset in the UK.He was 65 years old. — Gazette Reporters
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Bill Owen has passed away
PHUKET: Bill Owen, the founder of The Travel Company and, later, the events management firm Oriental Leisure, passed away in hospital earlier this morning in Swansea, South Wales. The popular entrepreneur had been a Phuket resident for more than 20 years and was best known for his enthusiasm about Thailand and southeast Asian travel, and for his zest for life.…
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Phuket public transport goes Paiboon pink
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Provincial Administration Organization President Paiboon Upatising was ‘tickled pink’ to present a new fleet of buses to the media today. The new 16-million-baht fleet is painted bright pink – Mr Paiboon’s campaign color. Eight of the 16 new songtaew (two-row) buses started services today, and will be joined by the remaining eight in two months. The new…
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Phuket police hunt ‘ballot box killer’
PA KHLOK, PHUKET: Phuket police are hunting a killer who stabbed a 26-year-old man to death before straddling the body and carving a bizarre symbol into the torso with a knife.Pornsit Pongsakornsopa’s corpse was found on Sunday morning in the middle of Srisoonthorn Road, opposite Boom Boom Karaoke, about 100 meters from Heroines’ Monument.There was some disagreement over the exact form of…
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JJ in new Phuket jet-ski dispute
PATONG, PHUKET: New footage has emerged showing Phuket’s infamous jet-ski man, Winai ‘JJ’ Naiman, in another dispute with marines – this time from the US Navy. The video, released by British TV producer Gavin Hill, shows police officers standing by as Thai jet-ski operators demand cash for damage to a vehicle. The footage ends with one US serviceman handing over…
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Phuket license plate goes for 800,000 baht
PHUKET: A man paid 800,000 baht for a single license plate at the Department of Land Transport’s 5th Annual License Plate Auction at the Metropole Hotel in Phuket City last weekend.Kampanat Thantiwat was the winning bidder for the plate ‘Kor Tor 9999′, the most expensive at the auction.Department of Land Transport Director General Chairat Sa-nguanchuen presided over the event, which was…
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Phuket’s infamous jet-ski man bailed
PATONG, PHUKET: Winai ‘JJ’ Naiman, the jet-ski operator arrested on extortion charges in Phuket this week, was bailed yesterday. An officer at Phuket Provincial Court said Mr Winai had posted a land title deed worth 700,000 baht to secure his release. Footage of Mr Winai, 28, threatening a group of British Royal Navy Marines with a gun was broadcast on…
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Phuket police seize almost 4,000 ya ba pills
THA CHAT CHAI, PHUKET: Phuket police arrested a 26-year-old man in possession of almost 4,000 ya ba (methamphetamine) pills at Tha Chat Chai checkpoint yesterday. Mr Pakorn Sa-nguansin told police he was a courier delivering the pills to a customer in Mai Khao. He picked up the drugs from a Burmese man in Phang Nga, he said. Tah Chat Chai…
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Appeal for help from Phuket’s divers
PHUKET: The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources is appealing to Phuket’s dive industry for volunteers to take part in its ‘Reef Watch’ surveying program. The program aims to assess the health of Thailand’s coral reefs. The collected data will be used as part of World Ocean Day 2010, and all findings will be available to the public. The research…
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Phuket parents outraged over school beating
KATHU, PHUKET: A 12 year-old student at a Phuket school claims her math teacher gave her a severe beating with a steel ruler in front of a class full of students because she did not do her homework. The girl’s parents have complained to police about the incident and are demanding that Baan Mai Riab School in Kathu issue the…
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Phuket Airport to get Asean upgrade
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: Phuket may have lost out to Hua Hin in the race to host October’s Asean Summit, but a 30-million-baht upgrade of Phuket Airport planned to help cope with the meetings will go ahead anyway, the Gazette has learned. The improvements, which include increasing the number of channels through Immigration, adding X-ray machines and expanding the car park,…
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New Phuket airline launches regional flights
PHUKET: A new Phuket-based airline has announced the launch of daily flights between Phuket and Haad Yai along with a new weekend Phuket-Langkawi route. The newly-launched Happy Air will begin operating flights from Phuket next month with its 34-seat Saab 340A aircraft. The daily 40-minute Phuket-Haad Yai flights are currently scheduled to depart from Phuket at 9:30am and arrive in…
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Landlocked Chinese eye up Phuket’s beaches
PHUKET CITY: Representatives from three landlocked Chinese provinces were in Phuket this week to examine the island’s appeal as a tourist destination for their sand- and sea-deprived residents.The delegates from Yunnan, Hunan and Guizhou provinces, which have a combined population of over 150 million, held talks with Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop and other officials at Provincial Hall yesterday.The six Chinese…
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Dispute leaves Phuket homes on a precipice
WICHIT, PHUKET: More than a hundred angry Phuket residents took to the streets last night to protest against a new housing development which they say will make them homeless. Panason City Village is a modern housing complex being built on 78 rai next to Soi Thep Anusorn off Chao Fa East Road in tambon Wichit. A number of the protesters have lived in…
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Chinese celebrate Por Tor festival in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: Phuket’s ethnic Chinese community celebrated the annual Por Tor festival in style over the weekend with ceremonies at the new Phuket City Fresh Market 1 on Ranong Rd. Science and Technology Minister Kalaya Sophonpanich presided over the opening of the festivities, which featured Thai and Chinese cultural shows on a stage in front of the market. It was…
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Movie to entice more Koreans to Phuket
PHUKET: A new 5-million-baht short film about Phuket aims to tempt more Korean tourists to visit the island. The film, simply entitled Phuket, stars a well-known Korean movie star, Im Soo Jung, and Thai actor Sorapong Chatree. Phuket will be previewed at the Pusan International Film Festival 2009 next month and screened on board airlines, including THAI and Korean. The…
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Phuket Lifesaving Carnival in Patong next month
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Lifesaving Carnival is set to return to Patong next month after the original event in July was postponed because of bad weather. The carnival is now scheduled to take place on October 3. Carnival organizers are hoping to attract between 40 and 60 international entrants and as many as 80 local participants. Events will include a…
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Bt2 billion for Phuket conference center: Anchalee
PHUKET CITY: Phuket will receive a two billion baht central government budget in fiscal 2010 to build the long-awaited international convention and exhibition center (ICEC) at the island’s northern tip, the Prime Minister’s Office has announced. Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr, who currently serves as Deputy Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister’s political affairs section, made the announcement via a press…
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Phuket president cleared of vote-buying
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO) President Paiboon Upatising has been cleared of vote-buying following an Appeals Court ruling earlier today. Mr Paiboon said he would return to work ‘immediately’ following the ruling by the Region 8 Court of Appeals in Bangkok. The verdict overturned a ‘yellow card’ ruling by the Election Commission (EC) in Bangkok, which found there…
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Big Phuket birthday party for ‘World’s oldest man’
PHUKET CITY: More has been revealed about the amazing life of Luang Pu Supha, claimed by adherents to be the oldest man in the world. Luang Pu Supha, abbot of a temple named after him in Chalong, is preparing to celebrate his 113th birthday in Phuket next week. Government-issued identification records presented to the Gazette show he was born on…
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Phuket Land Office announces February deadline
PHUKET CITY: Holders of Sor Kor 1 land possession papers have only until early February to apply for upgrades to full land title deeds, the Phuket Provincial Land Office has announced. Land Office chief Paitoon Lertkrai said that all Sor Kor 1 papers, which allow holders to use land for commercial purposes, will expire on February 6 next year. “To…
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UFOs drop into Phuket
PHUKET: A family in Phuket had a close encounter with unidentified falling objects at the weekend when about a hundred small spheres ‘dropped from the sky’ onto their roof and garden.The family of six said the transparent balls fell on their home in Wichit about 9am on Sunday directly after a rain shower.“After the rain had stopped, we heard the…
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‘Mermaid’ baby passes away at Vachira Phuket Hospital
PHUKET CITY: The Burmese infant born in Phuket with ‘mermaid syndrome’ has died of kidney failure after a month-long struggle for survival, doctors have confirmed. The infant, named Nichapa, was born at Vachira Phuket Hospital on July 9 after just 35 weeks of gestation. She suffered from the rare congenital condition known technically as Sirenomelia, which is found in approximately…
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Phuket road project still on hold
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Governor and three of Phuket’s top politicians on Thursday traveled to Bangkok to lobby Cabinet to endorse a controversial plan to allow construction of a new road to Saphan Hin through protected mangrove forest. Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-gnop made the trip with Phuket MPs Tossaporn Thepabutr and Rewat Areerob, as well as appointed Senator Phummisak Hongyok,…
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Phuket police report rise in prostitution
PHUKET CITY: Police reported a rise in arrests for prostitution in Phuket during August 2009, with 164 arrests representing a 70.8% increase over the same month last year. Statistics for August released by the Phuket Provincial Police show that drug-related offenses were the most common crimes, with 208 people arrested in 179 cases. The figure is a 50.4% increase year-on-year.…
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Plans for wind farm near Phuket’s “Big Buddha’
PATONG, PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Energy Office plans to build windmills in the Nakkerd Hills near the ‘Big Buddha’ image, a seminar on alternative energy was told on Thursday. Phuket Energy Office chief Jirasuk Tummawetch made the announcement during the seminar, held at the Royal Paradise Hotel in Patong. Chaired by Phuket Vice Governor Smith Palawatvichai, the seminar was organized…
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Panic in Phuket: Supercheap roof collapse
RASSADA, PHUKET: Shoppers at discount retailer Supercheap got a scare early this morning when three sections of roof blew off and fell onto the merchandise below, causing considerable damage and a public panic. Fortunately, there were no deaths or injuries. The collapse saw around 200 square meters of roof fall on three different departments: seafood, compact discs and baby clothes.…
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Phuket pounded by moonsoon weather
PHUKET: Strong monsoon winds last night uprooted a large tree in front of Wachira Phuket Hospital causing a blackout in the immediate area when the tree fell onto power lines along Yaowarat Road.By 8am, municipality workers were using a crane and chainsaws to lift the tree off the power lines and cut it into logs to be loaded onto trucks…
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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