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 man crushed by truck and coconut tree
PHUKET: A concrete well ring vendor died in Thalang yesterday afternoon after his crane truck rolled down a slope and one of the outriggers – arms used to stabilize the truck – crushed him against a coconut tree. Thalang Police were notified that a man had died at a coconut plantation behind Baan Chumpoh Mosque in Pa Khlok at about…
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Phuket security guard denies B500k ATM theft
PHUKET: A guard working for a Phuket security firm was arrested today for allegedly topping up his own pockets with 500,000 baht instead of topping up an ATM at a gas station near Wat Chalong. The arrest follows Progress Gunpai Co Ltd filing a police complaint against one of their own security guards, Samphan In-Auksorn, 33, from Nakhon Sri Thammarat,…
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Phuket crackdown on Russians heads north
PHUKET: Local officials will start conducting raids across Phuket’s Thalang District, which covers the northern third of the island, targeting any businesses involving foreigners. The raids will first target businesses involving Russians, a meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall was told yesterday. As have other recent immigration crackdowns, the Thalang operation will specifically target foreigners either working illegally in Thailand or…
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Patrons and staff of Phuket bars, nightclubs subjected to drug tests
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut has launched a campaign to conduct random drug tests at bars and nightclubs across the island.“Police will conduct random urine drug tests of venue staff and customers,” Governor Maitri said during raids on eight nightlife venues in Phuket Town on Monday night.“We will also check that the entertainment venues are legally registered as well,” he…
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Phuket gunfight survivors yet to deliver police statements
PHUKET: One of the two survivors of the gunfight on March 20, which left two dead and a Tourist Police officer charged with murder, has given police his version of the shooting but has not identified the shooter. Natthapong Kaewkuanchum, 25, was shot three times in the chest in the early morning of March 20, and is in the surgical…
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Phuket Immigration calls for Rohingya aid
PHUKET: Phuket Immigration is calling for donations of essentials for the 67 Rohingya currently under detention. “We are requesting donations of food, toiletries and clothes for the Rohingya because we do not know how long they will be detained here, as other shelters are full,” said Capt Angkarn Yasanop of the Immigration office on Phuket Road. Two groups of Rohingya…
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Marked Phuket grave gone to the dogs
PHUKET: Following a report from local villagers that they feared a foreign expat was buried at a grave near the Big Buddha image in the Nakkerd Hills, Karon Police today trooped up the hill and exhumed the remains – only to find the body of a buried dog.“At about 10:40am today, we received a report from a local plantation owner…
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Lucky escape from injury as Phuket tuk-tuk flips
PHUKET: A pickup driver, a tuk-tuk driver and a motorbike rider all escaped serious injury yesterday when they piled into one another after the pickup driver slammed on the brakes to avoid a huge pothole on Kata Hill.“The accident occurred near the sharp Sator Curve at about 12:20pm,” said Ruamjai Rescue Foundation emergency responder Sayan Thammaphan, who was among the…
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Gazette office closed tomorrow (Tuesday)
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette would like to inform our readers and advertisers that our office in Koh Kaew will be closed tomorrow due to a scheduled, all-day blackout in the area to upgrade power lines. The blackout will affect Soi Harn Farang and Soi Koh Kaew 33, and may affect adjoining areas that are supplied electricity from power cables along…
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Phuket United tread on Highways Department in season closer
PHUKET: The island’s pro futsal team Phuket United ended the GMM Sport Thailand Futsal Premier League (TFPL) 2012-2013 season in fine form on Saturday in Bangkok, beating lowly Highways Department 2-4 to secure a top-five league finish. The season closer comes in contrast to Phuket’s season debut in which they were defeated by the same team on the same pitch.…
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Bank employee surrenders over Phuket hit-and-run
PHUKET: The bank employee involved in a lethal hit-and-run in central Phuket late last month has surrendered himself to police. Chaowarot Jantarak, 38, was wanted by police after witnesses saw his car hit security guard Jarin Weenada, 21, who died at the scene (story here). Officers arrived at Mr Chaowarot’s house in the Neramit Housing Estate in Pa Khlok within…
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Greenpeace goes over the edge to protest Krabi coal plant
PHUKET: Hanging from the cliffs of Railay Bay in Krabi (view here), east of Phuket, Greenpeace activists staged a dramatic protest against the Thai government’s plan to build coal power plants across Thailand, including an 800 Megawatt plant in Krabi. The protest, held last Thursday, follows that of 500 Krabi villagers on February 11 (story here) who claimed that a…
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After India, Phuket Rohingya face deportation from Thailand
PHUKET: The boatload of 91 Rohingya forced to land yesterday on Koh Lone, off the south end of Phuket, have been taken into custody and will face yet another deportation, this time from Thailand. The group, who were forced to land on Koh Lone because their boat engine seized, told reporters they were taken into custody by Indian authorities on…
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Phuket turned off for Happy Earth Hour
PHUKET: Although there will be no official event tonight to mark Earth Hour 2013, the chief of the Phuket office of the Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA) is urging people to join the global event to show their support for conserving energy. “It is a very good campaign that everyone can join. It is easy to do at home, just turn…
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Phuket sets safety plans for Songkran
PHUKET: Police checkpoints and water-play zones will be set up to increase safety on Phuket during the Seven Days of Danger for Songkran, April 11 to April 17. “Police checkpoints will be set up around the clock during the period in order to check on drivers,” says San Jantharawong, chief of the Phuket office of the Department of Disaster Prevention…
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Phuket Gazette Sports: England hammer eight as Spain stutter; World Cup qualifiers
Spain stumbles as England, Germany and France win Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: World champions Spain were held by lowly Finland but there were wins for England, Germany, France and Netherlands as Europe’s top teams returned to the task of qualifying for next year’s World Cup finals yesterday. The first of this month’s two rounds of qualifiers – with another…
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Phuket Sports: England hit the buffers
PHUKET: The most unpredictable Six Nations Championship of recent years ended with yet more surprises: Wales as champions and France, tipped at the start as possible winners, holders of the ‘wooden spoon’. On the final, decisive Saturday, the shocks continued as Italy, this year’s surprise packet, beat a lack-luster Ireland, clearly hampered by an appalling run of injuries and three…
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Officials scramble as illegal tanker sinks, spills oil into Phuket canal
PHUKET: Marine Police scrambled this morning to contain an oil spill from an abandoned illegal tanker that sank in the Tah Jeen Canal on the east side of Phuket Town last night. The sunken boat, modified into an illegal tanker with the capacity to hold an estimated 20,000 liters of diesel oil, was spotted by local villagers at about 7:30am.…
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Phuket Sports: Trouble on the terraces
PHUKET: THE Thai Premier League Co Ltd (TPL) – the mother company of the Yamaha One league (Division 1, or YL1) – collected a total of 230,000 baht in fines in the first two weeks of the YL1 2013 season. Of this amount, Phuket FC were fined 5,000 baht for only having one ambulance at its first home match against…
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Phuket Sports: Scores, storms and Sepang – F1
PHUKET: Well, Melbourne was a great Grand Prix, and we now have some answers to those intriguing questions from the off-season. Last week I put my neck on the block and made some predictions about the Australian GP (click here for article) that were against conventional wisdom. How well did I do? I said slower teams have had a better…
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Phuket Sports: Patong pull clear at the top; Round 2 Junior league
PHUKET: After securing a first win of the season in their last match, the Village were confident of another successful outing against Phuket’s senior cricket league leaders, Patong, who loss in their last match to Jabudays (ICC). With only 3 points separating the top four teams, a win for the Village, last seasonfs runners up, would put them back in…
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Phuket sea gypsies unearth human bone under home
PHUKET: Sea gypsies in the southern Phuket beach area of Rawai panicked after discovering a bone believed to be human buried underneath a house.The bone could be up to 100 years old, said Panuwat Uasamal, an archaeologist at the Fine Arts Department Office in Phuket, who was contacted by the sea gypsies.The bone was discovered under Waek Lakkoh’s house while…
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Phuket Tourist Police shootout cop loses leg to gunfight injury
PHUKET: The Phuket Tourist Police officer injured in a shootout yesterday morning has had his right leg amputated in order to save his life. Sen Sgt Maj Pinchai Piyadilok, 34, was quickly transferred to the Prince of Songkla University Hospital in Haad Yai yesterday after he was shot in the leg and in the stomach in a gunfight at a…
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Body washes ashore near Phuket Town
PHUKET: Police are trying to determine the identity of a man whose body was found this morning washed ashore at Laem Tukkae, on the east side of Phuket Town. The man was likely a Burmese crewman aboard one of the many vessels operating out of Phuket, said Phuket City Police Duty Officer Chaleaw Taihoo. “He may have had an argument…
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Phuket’s international boat show comes of age
PHUKET: The 10th Anniversary Phuket International Boat Show (PIMEX) opened today to a large gathering of island dignitaries, VIPs, exhibitors, visitors and media. While the traditional boating markets of Europe and the USA continue to struggle in the current economic climate, Phuket is driving Asia’s growth and continues to attract top international boat brands and marine products to exhibit. Pivotal…
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No wildfire warning in Phuket, but fire alert remains
PHUKET: The lack of rainfall across the island in recent weeks has yet to prompt the authorities to issue a wildfire warning for Phuket, but they have called for people to be vigilant as a precaution.“We have not issued a fire warning as there are small packets of rain falling on scattered areas,” Phuket Forest Protection and Fire Control Director…
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Sit still Singapore – Live Wire
PHUKET: I was in Singapore last weekend, and frankly am surprised by the way “4G” technology is being marketed in all sorts of places: the tops of taxis, television ads, magazine and newspaper ads, radio and TV. Everybody, it seems, wants to know more about 4G, and how to can get it. It’s not just Singapore. All over the world,…
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Phuket Gazette Sports: UN to rescue the World Cup
Exclusive – Brazil enlists U.N. help to ready World Cup stadium Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Brazil’s capital city, struggling to finish a new football stadium in time for an upcoming dress rehearsal for the 2014 World Cup, is turning to a surprising partner for help: the United Nations. The Brasilia government signed this week a 35 million reais (11.65…
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Phuket Russians targeted in Thai New Year crackdown
PHUKET: Kathu District Chief Weera Kerdsirimongkol, who took up his position in Phuket less than a month ago, will target Russians, Nepalese and Vietnamese working illegally in Phuket, starting on April 14, the first day of the Thai new Year, he told a Provincial Hall meeting yesterday.“Initially, we will work with Phuket Employment Office and issue warnings to businesses involving…
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Tourist Police hit in Phuket Town shootout, killing two
PHUKET: A Phuket Tourist Police officer is in hospital this morning recovering from wounds sustained after a gunfight in a neighbor’s room which left two men dead early this morning. Sen Sgt Maj Pinchai Piyadilok was shot in the leg and in the stomach in the incident, and is recovering from surgery. Police have yet to question him. Officers received…
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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