Phuket News
Discover the latest news and updates from Thailand’s most famous and beautiful island, The Thaiger’s hometown, having previously operated as the Phuket Gazette.
Our team brings you breaking news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive stories from Phuket, covering everything from local politics and business to lifestyle and tourism. Learn about the island’s stunning beaches, vibrant nightlife, and thriving expat community, as well as keeping updated on events, and attractions.
The Thaiger is your ultimate guide to staying connected with Phuket’s ever-evolving landscape. To keep up with the most reliable news source on the island, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media.
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Phuket to remember road-traffic victims
PHUKET: Phuket will remember victims of road traffic accidents on the island for the first time on November 25, as part of World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) Phuket office confirmed today. The event, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2005, is observed around the world…
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Sinkhole forces Phuket villagers to take prison detour
PHUKET: Motorists willing to try their luck crossing a section of road in Srisoonthorn, in central Phuket, that was heavily compromised by a sinkhole earlier this week (story here) have had that option removed. Heavy rains over the past few days have washed away the entire section of road on Rural Road 4008 off Thepkrasattri Road, near Bang Jo Prison.…
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Officials scramble to resolve ban on tourists bringing own beach umbrellas
PHUKET: Officials are scrambling to get beach umbrellas and mats on the sands at the island’s key beaches this tourism high season before hordes of visitors arrive for the Christmas and New Year holidays. The push comes as an island-wide ban on all umbrellas at Phuket’s beaches saw a Swedish family on holiday last week being told they were not…
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Police find second group of Rohingya refugees north of Phuket
PHUKET: A second group of 86 Rohingya refugees believed to have been smuggled to Thailand from Myanmar were taken into to custody by police north of Phuket on Wednesday. The refugees were detained in a rubber plantation in Kuraburi, Phang Nga province, after police were informed by local residents that a large group of Rohingya were hiding in the plantation.…
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Asian Beach Games: Athletes head to the pool
PHUKET: The Asian Beach Games continues in Phuket today with 12 gold medals at stake. Following the spectacular opening ceremony last night (story here), come the first events in the pool. Two gold medals are up for grabs in the marathon swimming events, comprising the men’s 5km and women’s 5km races. Two more gold medals are for the taking in…
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Asian Beach Games: Opening ceremony wows Phuket
PHUKET: The curtain formally rose on the 4th Asian Beach Games in Phuket last night with the stunning opening ceremony at the Saphan Hin Sports Center near Phuket Town. His Excellency Privy Councilor and the Royal Representative Gen Surayud Chulanont presided over the ceremony. Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), and Tourism and Sports…
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Video Report: Michael Jackson, Rihanna and Beyonce Triple Tribute in Phuket
PHUKET: Triple Tribute, a spectacular show straight from London, arrives in Phuket on Saturday with the infectious music of Michael Jackson, Beyonce and Rihanna at Laguna. A musical fest full of powerful vocals, explosive dance routines and stunning costumes, Triple Tribute offers up impressive impressions of the three megastars singing the artists’ top hits, anthems and ballads. “Sasha Fierce” named…
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Asian Beach Games: Thailand lifts gold ahead of opening ceremony tonight
PHUKET: The 4th Asian Beach Games continued in Phuket today, with three gold medals up for grabs, ahead of the official opening ceremony at Saphan Hin tonight. Thailand beat Kuwait to win gold in flag football at the Saphan Hin Sports Center this morning, while two other gold medals were at stake in the men’s and women’s team beach woodball…
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Krabi parents demand school director dismissal after kindergarten assistants sacked
PHUKET: Teachers at Baan Koh Klang School in Khlong Prasong, Krabi, and hundreds of parents have lashed out against the summary dismissal of two teachers’ assistants at the school’s kindergarten, and called for the director herself to be sacked. School Director Vanischa Srichai dismissed Haruethai Kohklang and Aroonprapa Klongruow on Tuesday. “My daughter came home and told me that she…
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Police hunt for truck driver after teen crushed in fatal crash
PHUKET: Police are searching for the driver of a cement-mixer truck who hit and ran over a local student at Phuket Rajabhat University yesterday. The student, Chalermchai Lakbaan, 18, died instantly when his head was crushed under the wheels of the juggernaut. The incident occurred in front of the Phuket Cement Co Ltd site on Prachasamakkee Road in Rassada, at…
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Asian Beach Games: Thailand scores two gold in ju-jitsu
PHUKET: Thailand captured superb form to win two gold medals in the ju-jitsu competition at the 4th Asian Beach Games at Saphan Hin, near Phuket Town, yesterday. The first gold came from women’s martial art duo Suphawadee Kaeosrasaen and Kunsatri Kumsroi in their impressive 36-33 win over Pakistan’s Sundus Salam Khan and Maryam 36-33 in the final. Areewan Chansri and…
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Phuket police take down gang of shoplifting youngsters
PHUKET: Phuket police arrested a gang of seven, mostly teenagers, last night for shoplifting at several convenience stores in the Chalong and Rawai areas over the last month. The group, which called themselves noo pee, or ghost rat, targeted four convenience stores: Big One Rawai branch, SuperCheap Rawai, SuperCheap Saiyuan and Tesco Lotus on Wiset Road in Rawai. “The gang…
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Phuket police charge man with attempted rape of Australian tourist
PHUKET: Police have charged a man for the alleged attempted rape of an Australian tourist at a resort on Koh Maphrao, an island off the east coast of Phuket. “We have the man in custody. He surrendered to police after we sent many officers to the island after the woman reported the incident,” said Capt Nucharee Longkaew of the Phuket…
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Bangkok Hospital Phuket marketing manager dies in car crash
PHUKET: The marketing manager of Bangkok Hospital Phuket was found dead in her car after she slammed into a power pole heading southbound on Thepkrasattri Road last night. Phuket City Police officers and Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers found Nicha Chiwangkul, 46, from Surat Thani, pinned behind the wheel of her Honda Civic about 30 meters from the Bang Ku Intersection…
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Cobra caught creeping near Phuket school
PHUKET: Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers snapped into action yesterday when a two-meter-long cobra was found outside of a house only 20 meters away from the Phuket Thaihua Asean Wittaya School. Watchara Srikacha and a few other rescue workers rushed to the scene on Wichit Songkram Road Soi 4, near the Darasamuth Intersection, after a resident notified them of the reptile…
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Video Report: BISP Soccer 7s get serious
PHUKET: There are people out there who complain that kids nowadays spend all their free time in front of the TV, on the Internet or playing gaming consoles. A visit to the British International School Phuket (BISP) grounds during the recent Soccer 7s tournament would surely prove those people wrong. With over 1,300 competitors and teams flocking to the island…
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Myanmar workers wanted for devastating cooking accident
PHUKET: Police are searching for a group of Myanmar workers whose rented house was gutted by fire this afternoon in a blaze that is believed to have started in a cooking accident. The fire broke out at the rented abode, located in a worker’s camp in Soi Patchanee, Rassada, at about 1:10pm. “Two fire trucks from Rassada Municipality were called…
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Jilted Patong medium shoots man in head for flirting
PHUKET: A man is in the intensive-care unit (ICU) at Patong Hospital after being shot in the head yesterday for allegedly flirting with the girlfriend of a jealous spirit medium who lived on the same street. Patong Police arrested Bundit Pramualsil, 36, from Phuket, while he was riding his motorbike on a road near Tri Trang Beach, south of Patong,…
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Asian Beach Games: Twelve gold medals up for grabs on first day
PHUKET: The curtain quietly rose on the 4th Asian Beach Games in Phuket today, with the gold-medal hunt starting at 9am in four sporting events: sambo, jujitsu, flag football and squash. The flag football competition is being contested at the Saphan Hin Sports Center. Sambo is being fought out at Karon Beach, featuring the 52kg, 82kg, 64kg, 68kg and 100kg…
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Phuket schools close for Asian Beach Games
PHUKET: Schools throughout Phuket have been ordered to close tomorrow and Friday to ease traffic congestion during the opening days of the 4th Asian Beach Games, which get underway on Friday. “Many parents might worry about how this might affect their children’s education, but I would like to state that we have made this decision to do our part in…
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Patong bar owners defer “anti-extortion strike’, appeal to Phuket Governor
PHUKET: Bar owners in Patong, Phuket’s premier resort town, have gone back on a vow to close their doors for three days in protest of corruption and recent orders to close down at 2am, as it would cost them too much in could-be profits. A letter that was passed among bar owners in Soi Bangla and elsewhere in Patong stated…
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Rohingya land north of Phuket, search begins for missing boats
PHUKET: Police are calling for all residents along the Andaman coast to report any sightings of two boats flying Thai flags that are believed to be trafficking refugees, including many Rohingya fleeing Myanmar. The call to report any sightings of the boats follows police taking into custody 299 refugees at Koh Nok, off the Ranong coast, on Saturday. The boat,…
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Asian Beach Games ceremonial flame arrives in Phuket
PHUKET: A special ceremony was held yesterday in Phuket Town to display and honor a ceremonial flame provided by HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej for good luck during the Asian Beach Games, which begin on Friday. The flame, called fai phra ruek, arrived at Phuket International Airport at about 3:30pm and was displayed on a float that paraded to Saphan Hin,…
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Phuket Police search for hit-and-run driver
PHUKET: Police are looking for a hit-and-run driver who struck a motorcycle on the road between Phuket International Airport and Thepkrasattri Road late last night. Police were notified of the incident at 11:05pm, said Lt Col Sanit Nookong of the Thalang Police. “We received a call from a passing motorist reporting that a woman had been an injured after being…
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Phuket Governor puts underpass construction on hold for Beach Games
PHUKET: Governor Nisit Jansomwong has ordered construction of the island’s first two underpasses to be halted during the Asian Beach Games, which begin on Thursday (story here), so that all lanes can be open for traffic. “Three lanes at the Darasamuth Intersection underpass [near Central Festival Phuket] will be open, as well as the road between Central Festival Phuket and…
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Krabi fishermen protest coal-fired power plant
PHUKET: Local fishermen in Krabi have joined the fight against an 870-megawatt coal-fired power plant to be built in the province’s Nua Khlong district, east of Phuket. A horde of boats carrying angry villagers congregated at the Baan Klong Ruo pier in Nua Khlong at about 10:30am yesterday, wielding large signs that read: “Protect Krabi from coal-power plant” and waving…
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Russian-language guide arrested attempting to bribe Phuket Tourist Police
PHUKET: A man arrested on Saturday for illegally working as a Russian-speaking tour guide has been charged with attempting to bribe the Tourist Police officers who arrested him. Dmitrii Pindiurin, 27, from the Kyrgyz Republic, was arrested at the Karon View Point at 10:30am. “We were on the lookout for illegal guides when three foreigners arrived,” said Sen Sgt Maj…
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Save the pooches: 15-kilogram python captured in Phuket
PHUKET: A frightened Phuket resident fearing for the lives of his neighbors’ pets called rescue workers to capture a 15-kilogram python that was attempting to escape into a drain early this morning. Wuttikai Dartdean called rescue workers from the Kusoldharm Foundation and the local municipality to the scene – in a residential area west of the Heroines Monument in Thalang,…
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Billion-baht Belgian pot dealer arrested in Phuket
PHUKET: Immigration officers arrested Belgian national Patrick Lagrou, 55, who was wanted on an Interpol notice as a fugitive drug dealer, as he was attempting to leave Phuket on Saturday night. Mr Lagrou is renowned as the biggest marijuana grower in Belgium’s history, amassing a fortune of 25 million euros – more than a billion baht – in assets before…
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Sinkholes strike again in Phuket after weekend storms
PHUKET: Officers shut down a road in central Phuket today after heavy rains and flash flooding this weekend caused a large, dangerous sinkhole to form on one side of the road. Part of Rural Road 4008 off Thepkrasattri Road, near Bang Jo Prison in Srisoonthorn, gave way after strong water flow inundated the drain pipe below and washed away the…
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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