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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Wet road surface blamed for three vehicle pile-up
PHUKET: A slippery road surface due to rain was blamed for a three car pile-up on Thepkrasattri Road on Thursday night, causing long tailbacks and delays for northbound motorists. Two people were injured in the multi-car collision near Wat Phra Thong in Thalang at about 10pm. The driver of a Mazda sedan heading southbound lost control and rammed into oncoming…
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Join the festivities at the last Lighthouse Market of the season
The last Lighthouse Market of the season is being held at the Boat Lagoon in Koh Kaew today and tomorrow from 6pm. The spacious water-edge promenade will be decorated with imagery from countries around the world – including the Champs-Elysees in Paris, the windmills of Holland, then to Egypt, Japan and back to Thailand. The market features a panoramic view…
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Drugs litter fiery crash
PHUKET: Two people were injured when the driver of a car lost control and hit a power pole on the byapass road near the Premium Outlet mall, resulting in the car catching fire early this morning. The driver, Amran Dueramae, 27, suffered a serious head injury, while his passenger, Sulaimarn Da-O, 25, sustained minor injuries. Police found several packs of…
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Yaowarat Road to close for three days
PHUKET: Yaowarat Road is scheduled to be closed May 8-10 due to ongoing construction work for the third phase of a project to bury power cables underground in Old Phuket Town. Phuket City Municipality confirmed that the road will be closed from Suriyadej Circle to the Dibuk-Yaowarat intersection. The project, which is a combined effort by Phuket City Municipality, Phuket…
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A-negative blood needed for Canadian crash victim
PHUKET: Vachira Phuket Hospital requires donations of A-negative blood to save the life of a 35-year-old Canadian motorcyclist who was seriously injured in a collision with a 10-wheel truck in Phuket yesterday. “Connelly Bavid Lee was admitted to Vachira Phuket Hospital early yesterday morning with serious injuries to his chest, back, and legs. We have given him four units of…
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B2.4mn Provincial Hall roundabout opens today
PHUKET: The grand opening of the Narisorn roundabout near Phuket Provincial Hall was held at midday today, with Phuket Vice Governor Kajornkiet Rakpanitmanee, Phuket City Deputy Mayor Thavorn Jirapattanasophon and other officials in attendance. Construction of the 2.4-million-baht roundabout was funded last year by the UK-based non-profit Safer Roads Foundation at the island’s deadly Narisorn-Surin intersection. Last year, a total…
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Job-training program graduates prisoners
PHUKET: Certificates were awarded to prisoners who completed a sticker-cutting course yesterday, officials confirmed. The ceremony marked the end of a cooperation course by Phuket Provincial Prison, Southern Media Co Ltd and the Thai Advertising Business Development Association, under the ‘Building Sustainable Future’ project. The course aimed to help prisoners acquire knowledge and employable skills that might be useful after…
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UNESCO announces May public education conference in Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket City Municipality is to host the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Education Conference from May 9-11 at the Phuket Graceland Resort in Patong. Representatives from a number of distinguished international organizations will be providing education-related advice and assistance to the public. “The conference is under the banner ‘New Paradigm of Community Learning Center through Online Lifelong Education’,” said Phuket City Deputy…
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Spin out on slippery road injures teen passenger
PHUKET: A teenage woman was injured in an accident on Thepkrasattri Road at about 8:15pm last night, when a pick-up truck spun out of control on the slippery road, hitting two motorbikes parked on the side. Krittiya Kengreng, 19, a passenger in the pick-up truck, suffered injuries to her right leg and forehead. Rescue workers rushed her to Vachira Phuket…
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Depressed Krabi man dumped by wife threatens to jump from pylon
KRABI: A domestic dispute led a Krabi man to attempt leaping off a high-voltage electric pylon yesterday, confirmed officials from the Naneu Administration Organization (OrBorTor) in Ao Leuk. Prasit Duangjan, a 66-year-old resident of Ao Leuk District, climbed about 30 meters up the pylon, dodging live power lines, and threatened to jump for nearly two hours. Rescue teams from Ao…
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Driver in stoning incident files attempted murder charges
PHUKET: A driver whose car was pelted with stones, causing it to veer off the road and crash into a power pole on Tuesday, filed attempted murder charges against the motorcyclist responsible for it. The accused motorcyclist, Anucha Yeemuda, 21, was initially charged with assault and causing damage to property after he turned himself in to the police (story here).…
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Thailand commemorates Coronation Day
PHUKET: Thailand commemorates Coronation Day (Wun Chatramongkhon) today, which marks the ascension to the throne of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej on May 5, 1950. The auspicious date is a public holiday and this year’s commemorations mark the 66th anniversary of His Majesty’s reign. Phuket Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada today gathered officers at Satree Phuket School to pay their respects to HM…
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Miracle escape for family of four in Phuket car-flip horror
PHUKET: A family of four escaped serious injury when their car skidded off the road, smashed into trees and flipped over early this morning. The accident occurred at 3:40am on Thepkrasattri Road during a rainstorm. The driver, Somchai Kennadam, 44, said he lost control of the car as he took a bend on the slippery road heading towards Mai Khao.…
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Stone thower charged after road rage injures family of three
PHUKET: A Phuket man who pelted a car with stones, making the driver lose control and crash, has been charged for assault and causing damage to property after the family of three in the car was hospitalized. Police received a call at 1:10pm yesterday that a car had lost control and hit a power pole in the Laem Hin area,…
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Social media sleuth snares smokey bus
PHUKET: A pollution-emitting tour bus was banned from service after a Facebook user posted a video showing clouds of thick, black smoke emanating from it, confirmed officials on Sunday. Facebook user Joke Moodie, who posted the video, immediately alerted authorities to take action and shut the bus down. Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) Chief Policy Adviser Jaturong Kaewkasi said that…
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Manhunt for murderer after rotting body found in forest
PHUKET: Police have launched a murder investigation after the decomposing body of a Myanmar national was found this morning, wrapped in a mattress and dumped in a mangrove forest in Rassada. The body, identified by locals as a 52-year-old fisherman named Tai Jor, was found at 7:30am. “The body was found rolled up in a mattress that had been bound…
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Phuket expat requests A-negative blood donations
PHUKET: A pensioner from the UK currently being treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Phuket International Hospital is in urgent need of A-negative blood. “The hospital needs the blood in stock before doctors can perform surgery”, explains an expat relative of the patient. A-negative is a rare blood type found only in 7 per cent of Caucasians, 2…
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Krabi woman gives birth on boat
KRABI: Two Krabi police officers helped deliver a baby at sea on Sunday morning, when the mother could not make it to a hospital on time. Capt Prayong Pongsawang of the Khao Phanom Police and Lt Rawi Praekpan of the Krabi Provincial Forensic Police are being called heroes on social media for safely delivering the baby. The Krabi woman, who…
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Krabi officials frustrated by local beliefs
KRABI: Locals believe a serpent is the cause of a sinkhole at the Khao Phanom Temple, but officials disagree. Officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) Region 4 in Surat Thani arrived to inspect the sinkhole last week. Their findings concluded that the hole outside the temple – roughly five meters wide and four meters deep –…
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Australian in fatal fall photographing fireworks from Patong balcony
PHUKET: An Australian man fell to his death from the 19th floor of a high-rise hotel in Patong as he attempted to take photos of fireworks. Major Pattapee Srichai of the Patong Police was alerted at about 11:37pm on Thursday that Jamie William Brown, 30, had fallen from the balcony of his room at a high-rise hotel on Rat-U-Thit 200…
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Phuket tax-dodging nominees for foreigners to face charges
PHUKET: Police in Phuket expect to arrest soon a number of people in the province who are acting as nominees for foreigners doing business illegally in Thailand. The nominees for Phuket businesses operated by foreigners are among more than 1,000 Thais in the Kingdom set to face charges in a large-scale crackdown on people acting as such, including law firms…
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Glimpse into the mind of Phuket’s Row2Rio adventurer
PHUKET: Australian head coach at Phuket’s Unit 27, Luke Richmond, sat down in an exclusive interview with the Phuket Gazette after completing a world-record setting rowboat journey from Portugal to Brazil. Divided into three legs, Row2Rio honors the Olympics as the Olympic stadium moved from London to Rio de Janeiro. The test of endurance began with a cycling trek setting…
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Phuket lifeguards warn of deadly rip-currents
PHUKET: Seasonal changes have brought strong rip currents to the shores of Phuket. With them comes a sharp rise in the number of rescues this month, prompting lifeguards to issue stern warnings to would-be swimmers. “Swimmers who ignore warning flags are risking their lives and those of the lifeguards,” said the president of the Phuket Lifeguard Club (PLC), Prathaiyut Chuayuan.…
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Phuket plays its part in International Jazz Day festivities tonight
PHUKET: More than 40 local and international musicians are putting on a free jazz concert in Phuket Town tonight for the 5th Phuket UNESCO International Jazz Day . Music Matters Collective, in collaboration with Phuket City Municipality, has organized what is expected to be the biggest annual jazz day the island has seen yet to promote music culture and tourism.…
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Drug-crazed Phuket man charged with killing grandmother
PHUKET: A man who allegedly murdered his 74-year-old grandmother while high on drugs was arrested on Thursday after a violent confrontation with police. The arrest followed the death of Jintana Chairab, who suffered severe head injuries when her grandson attacked her; repeatedly banging her head on the ground at her house in Kathu, according to eye-witnesses, said Thung Thong Police…
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Big stink in Japan as Chinese tourists asked to stop passing gas
JAPAN: A tourism guide imploring Chinese visitors in Japan to stop belching and passing gas in public has had to be republished in multiple languages so as to lay the blame for uncouth behavior on “foreign” tourists generally, rather than guests from the Central Kingdom alone. According to AFP, as cited in a report in The Nation on Thursday, the…
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Drug mule busted with 1.8kg of chocolate cocaine
PHUKET: A 21-year-old Thai woman who attempted to smuggle 1.8 kilograms of cocaine disguised as chocolate through Phuket International Airport was arrested by customs officers this morning. The chance discovery by officers was made at 4:15am after the woman, named as Oatchara Wikho, arrived in Phuket on a plane from Dubai. The cocaine had been molded into pellets and disguised…
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Massive public support for reclamation of illegal land
PHUKET: Hundreds of supporters gathered outside Phuket Provincial Hall today, flowers and appreciative messages in hand, to thank Phuket Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada for reclaiming illegally occupied beach land and restoring it to the public. The controversy and delays surrounding the illegal business demolitions came to a head yesterday, when a local seafood restaurant at Lay Pang Beach was demolished despite…
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Drug addict arrested for Family Mart robbery
PHUKET: Police on Tuesday arrested a drug addict wanted for the armed robbery of a Family Mart convenience store on Thepkrasattri Road last Friday. Police captured Krittanai Maneechote, 20, as he was leaving his rented apartment in Rassada. “The suspect fit the description of the man who held up the staff at knife point, forcing them to hand over 5,000…
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Power cuts in Koh Kaew, Phuket Town
PHUKET: Scheduled electricity shut-offs will affect residents in areas of Phuket Town today and in the Koh Kaew sub-district tomorrow. The Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) announced that there will be no electricity along parts of Rassada Road, Yaowarat Road, Phang Nga Road, Thalang Road, Deebuk Road, Takuapa Road, and Soi Sun U-thit from 9am-4.30pm today. Electricity in the Koh Kaew…
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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