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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New Tourist Police Commander joins Phuket boat safety blitz
PHUKET: The new commander of the Tourist Police, Maj Gen Apichai Theamart, yesterday led a team of officers on a safety inspection of boats operating at Rassada Pier, on the east side of Phuket Town. The inspection, aimed at ensuring Phuket tourists’ safety, follows a heavily overloaded ferry from Pattaya capsizing off Koh Lan, injuring many passengers and causing the…
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Phuket tourist van drivers win reprieve against arrests
PHUKET: Local van drivers who shuttle tourists at hotels and resorts to and from the various piers around Phuket have won a reprieve from arrests during the ongoing crackdown on illegal drivers.The news follows a collection of 60 drivers successfully appealing to Phuket Vice Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada at Provincial Hall yesterday.“All of us have already applied to the Phuket Land…
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Russian tourist dies after Phuket massage
PHUKET: A Russian tourist died after suffering a heart attack in the middle of receiving a massage in Bang Tao (view here), on Phuket’s west coast, yesterday. Sergey Taruraev, 37, was pronounced dead by medical staff at about 5:30pm, soon after his arrival at Thalang Hospital. An ambulance was dispatched by the hospital after being notified at 4:30pm, by staff…
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Phuket traffic cop perks up to catch coffee fiend
PHUKET: A passerby in Phuket Town helped an off-duty police officer chase down a man who allegedly stole a bag of instant coffee from a 7-Eleven convenience store early yesterday morning.Kampanart Rattanamuay, 34, was found by police with five bags of coffee, a DVD and a pair of gloves.“By the time we arrived, Mr Kampanart had already been captured and…
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One killed in Phuket construction work truck crash [video report]
PHUKET: A truck carrying construction workers flipped on a hill on the coast road between Patong and Kamala yesterday, killing one and injuring 12. Kamala Police were notified of the accident at about 5:30pm. By the time they arrived at the scene, traffic police were already there, helping to direct traffic in the long tailbacks building up at the crash…
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Phuket Poll: Is compulsory health insurance for tourists worth it?
PHUKET: Stories of fundraisers to cover the medical costs of friends and loved ones are not strangers to Phuket’s news pages. Dozens of stories a year roll in, and many more remain undocumented, about those travelling through The Kingdom who succumb to unfortunate circumstances and rack up enormous medical bills as doctors fight to save them. Many of these bills…
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12th Phuket BIS international football tourney underway
PHUKET: Launching right on schedule, the 12th annual British International School Phuket (BISP) regional football tournament kicked off this morning with a “short-and-sweet” opening ceremony at 7:30am and the first matches commencing at 8am on the dot. With not too many clouds in the sky, the weather looks favorable for some of the island’s most exciting seven-a-side youth footballing action,…
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British national charged for road fatality in Phuket
PHUKET: A British national was charged with reckless driving causing death after she allegedly forced a 17-year-old student on a motorbike off the road into a utility pole. According to witnesses, Faye Louise Taylor, 39, made a left-hand turn from Thepkasattri Road toward Nai Yang Beach at just past midnight today, cutting off Patiphan Lawan. The 17-year-old Mr Patiphan, who…
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Hot withdrawal: Phuket ATM robbed of B1.6mn
PHUKET: Thieves used a blowtorch to make off with an estimated 1.6 million baht from an ATM at the entrance to the Boat Lagoon this morning. The theft, at a Siam Commercial Bank ATM, was discovered at about 11am by an employee who had come to service the machine. “The thieves broke the lock on the door of the building…
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Phuket students in mass rally against amnesty bill
PHUKET: Hundreds of whistle-blowing students streamed through Phuket Town last night on their way to Phuket Provincial Hall to protest the amnesty bill. Starting at about 6pm, students from Phuket Wittayalai School, Satree Phuket School, Phuket Technical College, Rajabhat University and the Prince of Songkla University Phuket Campus gathered in front of Provincial Hall to make their opposition to the…
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Phuket Governor leads boat safety blitz
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut yesterday continued his campaign to boost marine safety as he inspected boats operating to and from Koh Maphrao, off Phuket’s east coast. The tour was part of a current blitz on marine safety, which was launched following a heavily overloaded ferry from Pattaya capsizing off Koh Lan, injuring many passengers and causing the deaths of…
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Phuket tuk-tuk driver foils snatch-in-action
PHUKET: A Kalim tuk-tuk driver rushed to the aid of a woman who called for help yesterday and managed to apprehend the man who had just snatched her bag.Yongyuth Dhamkong, 42, was driving along the Kalim beachfront road at about 2am when he heard Nongsarang Sakyen, 33, calling for help.“When I drove past the victim, I heard her shout for…
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Phuket alumni, hospital workers protest amnesty bill
PHUKET: Opposition to the amnesty bill continued in Phuket yesterday as university alumni and hospital staff made their opinions known.About 20 Chulalongkorn and Thammasat University alumni association representatives presented Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut a letter of opposition to the bill while explaining how an amnesty could affect Phuket.“If this bill passes, the nation as a whole will experience more corruption,”…
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Phuket rescue too late for chicken
PHUKET: A chicken-owner tried to save his fowl from a python yesterday morning, but his efforts came too late; the chicken had already expired.An official of Radio Thailand Phuket called Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers for help catching the snake at 7:30am.The official, who asked not to be named, told rescue workers that he was alerted to the snake’s presence when…
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Swedish national police chief praises Phuket Police
PHUKET: Sweden’s national police chief Bengt Svenson yesterday praised the Phuket Police for utilizing foreign volunteers and for developing deeper relations with the community.“The way they presented it here, it is the best way [for police] to work: with volunteer tourist police and to be near the citizens, near the tourists, to be among them. That is the best way…
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Phuket expats risking lives on the road to stay in paradise
PHUKET: The visa van crash that took the life of Filipina singer Renita Dequina Polido on October 21 (story here) sent shock waves through the Phuket expat community and raised questions about the logic of a system that requires foreign workers to leave the country to get visas and renew 90-day permits-to-stay so regularly. The early morning accident occurred on…
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Tuk-tuk ejection scheme draws mixed reactions
PHUKET: As the clock starts to tick down on a plan to evict tuk-tuk drivers from parking spots in Patong, response from tuk-tuk drivers varies from flat refusal to requests for fairness in the application of the new measure. “Most tuk-tuk drivers will not agree to move off the road. Where would we work then?” said Sakol Srisompoch, who earlier…
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Phuket beach closed after croc scare
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut asked hotel staffers and local residents yesterday to help keep people out of the water along Mai Khao Beach after a 2.5-meter-long crocodile was spotted in the area on Sunday (story here). “To ensure the safety of tourists and residents, Governor Maitri declared the area a no-swim zone,” Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR)…
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Phuket’s BIS to host largest international schools’ football tournament
PHUKET: Over 1,100 young footballers aged 8 to 18 years and from nine different countries will congregate in Phuket this Friday and Saturday (November 8-9) for the 12th annual British International School Phuket (BISP) International Football Tournament, sponsored by Outrigger Laguna Phuket Beach Resort and the Phuket Gazette. The expansive 39-acre BISP campus with 10 seven-a-side football pitches, is the…
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Breakfast blaze cooks Phuket Town vegetarian restaurant
PHUKET: A fire that broke out in a vegetarian restaurant during the breakfast rush today caused customers to scatter.Only minor injuries were reported from the incident. The cook at the Num Heng vegetarian restaurant on Chana Charoen Road told police that she was cooking when the fire started from the gas canister she was using.“I turned my back to get…
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In wake of Pattaya ferry disaster, top brass stages safety tour in Phuket
PHUKET: Police Region 8 Commander Panya Mamen yesterday morning led a team of officers on a safety inspection of passenger vessels at Rassada Pier, a major jump-off point for tourists boarding ferries and tour boats to islands in Phang Nga Bay and along the Andaman coast. The safety blitz followed a heavily overloaded ferry from Pattaya capsizing off Koh Lan,…
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Crocodile spooks Phuket beach tourists
PHUKET: A large crocodile spotted offshore Phuket’s northern beach of Mai Khao yesterday morning has raised concerns that the amphibious predator may return and endanger local residents and tourists. The alarm was raised at 8:30am by a staffer at the Maikhao Dream Villa Resort and Spa Phuket, at the southern end of Mai Khao Beach (map here). “A crocodile was…
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SuperCheap Burmese miss Phuket employment office deadline
PHUKET: None of the 100 Myanmar nationals who allegedly quit SuperCheap after an enormous blaze demolished the megashop (story here) reported to the Phuket Provincial Employment Office (PPEO) by the November 1 deadline (story here). “The workers were required to report their resignation to us by November 1, but until now none of them have shown up,” PPEO chief Yaowapa…
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Former Outrigger GM found dead in bed
PHUKET: A former General Manager of Outrigger Hotels and Resorts was found dead at his luxury villa in Cherng Thalay early yesterday afternoon.William Marshall, 55, was found in his bed by his wife. There were no signs of a struggle, police said.Mr Marshall’s wife, Grace Lee Marshall, 49, told police that the couple had slept in the same bed the…
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Phuket protesters take stand against amnesty bill
PHUKET: Over 5,000 protesters rallied against the amnesty bill yesterday, blocking Surin Road in front of Phuket Provincial Hall as they listened to democrat leaders vehemently denounce the bill and the Yingluck administration. The protesters, mostly from Phuket and Phang Nga, signed their names in denouncement of the recently passed, controversial bill (story here) during the six-hour protest. “I cannot…
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Phuket FC unlucky 13th in season finale
PHUKET: The Islanders ended their Yamaha League One (YL1) 2013 on a low note, falling to their final position of 13th place following a 3-0 away loss to Nakhon Ratchasima FC on Saturday night in Thailand’s Northeast. Following the opening exchanges, it was Phuket who looked to be the most threatening, with Giorgi Tsimakuridze netting the ball in the 20th…
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China beats USA in FIVB Phuket Thailand Open final
PHUKET: It took just two sets for the Chinese team, Chen Xue and Xinyi Xia to beat the American pair Emily Day and Summer Ross and win the gold medal in the FIVB Phuket Thailand Open Powered By PTT 2013. The Americans failed to crack the great Chinese wall despite numerous attempts and the high flying, petite Xinyi Xia’s precise…
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Phuket Top Cop demands tuk-tuks and taxis give up Patong parking spots
PHUKET: Phuket’s top cop promised yesterday to push tuk-tuks and taxis off of some of their regular patches, including Patong beach road, in order to create parking spots for the general public.“We’ll have new parking zones set up in two weeks,” he said.Police called in the heads of every taxi stand, as well as the people who lend drivers parking…
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Phuket taxi driver killer turns himself in
PHUKET: The man who fatally stabbed a Karon taxi driver in Samkong early yesterday morning turned himself in today.Jirawat Kongtanote, 22, has been charged for the murder of his neighbor, Teeranan Phongkrathin, 29 (story here). Mr Jirawat accepted the charge, saying, “We were friends and I stabbed him.”The two men had a long-running argument that involved, at least in part,…
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UK backs cross-cultural negotiation education for Phuket government officials
PHUKET: High-ranking local government officers in Phuket will start an English language and cross-cultural negotiation course this month as part of the ongoing cooperation between the United Kingdom and Thailand, said British Ambassador to Thailand Mark Kent. The announcement of the course came after a closed-door meeting between Amb Kent and Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut yesterday afternoon. “The UK embassy…
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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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