Phuket News
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8 injured as Phuket pickup flips, rolls into field
PHUKET: Two youngsters, a 12-year-old boy and an 18-year-old woman, are in hospital with serious head injuries after the pickup truck they were travelling in flipped and rolled down an embankment while returning to Phuket from Krabi last night. Natchanon Kaewrua, 12, and Jinta Petchkrua, 18, were thrown out of the back of the pickup when driver Somchai Kaewrua, 48,…
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Russian tour counters closed in Phuket, pending probe
PHUKET: All Russian tour counters in the Kata-Karon beach areas have been ordered to close until further notice and the local Labor Office has been requested to investigate them for possible breach for foreign worker regulations. The news came at a meeting at Kata-Karon Municipality yesterday, held to resolve the ongoing dispute between local tuk-tuk and taxi drivers and Russian…
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Phuket tourism leaders lambast Sydictive new year party for noise, trash
PHUKET: Leading Phuket tourism and hotel figures yesterday personally brought forward a barrage of complaints to the Phuket Governor about the Sydictive Element new year party, citing complaints that noise forced guests to check out early and trash was left strewn along Patong Beach. The delegation filing the complaint comprised Phuket Tourist Association (PTA) President Ponganun Suwannakarn and PTA Vice…
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Phuket mangrove deforestation probe whittles down encroachment claim
PHUKET: The 70 rai of protected mangrove forests investigated on Phuket yesterday in fear it was being illegally encroached on was whittled down to only two rai after a followup probe this morning. “After I examined the Klong Mudong area in Chalong again today, I was able to determine that only about two rai of the land being reclaimed by…
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Marine police hook Phuket fish smuggler
PHUKET: A local resident in Rawai, at the southern end of Phuket, was arrested yesterday trying to smuggle more than 200 protected-species fish to Bangkok.Marine Police and Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) Region 5 office in Phuket arrested Boonsuan Raknawa, 41, after officers received information about protected fish being smuggled to Bangkok via a public bus.“The suspect was…
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Anxiety key factor in Australian tourist death: Phuket hospital staff
PHUKET: While Phuket police continue their investigation into the death of 21-year-old Australian tourist Sebastian Eric Faulkner, staff at Patong Hospital have reported that the young man was showing signs of anxiety when he presented himself to the hospital just hours before his death.On recognizing the symptoms, doctors at Patong Hospital admitted him for minor depression.Mr Faulkner, from Melbourne, plunged…
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Phuket blockade wins tuk-tuk drivers reprieve from Russian operators
PHUKET: Tuk-tuk and taxi drivers who established a road blockade in Karon last night will take further action if a meeting at 2pm today does not resolve a dispute over Russian tour operators undercutting local prices, the Phuket Gazette was told. Karon Kamnan Winai Chidchiew broke the news after about 100 tuk-tuk and taxi drivers blockaded the Karon beachfront road…
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Phuket United beat Lampang United
PHUKET: Phuket United beat Lampang United 7-3 in their third home game of the Thai Futsal Premier League (TFPL) season on January 2.The match was played in front of 600 supporters at the 4,000-seat Indoor Sports Complex at Saphan Hin.Before the game, Phuket United’s head coach Suphol Senapeng told the Phuket Gazette: “Our main objective for this game is concentration…
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Phuket Opinion: Examine Phuket’s crackdown culture
PHUKET: The majority of readers who took part in the Phuket Gazette‘s recent online poll called for local authorities to strictly enforce existing laws in regards to illegal “black plate” taxis. Unfortunately, the inability or unwillingness of traffic police to consistently seek out and punish violators virtually guarantees no change in the status quo. Thus, recent efforts by the Phuket…
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Phuket suffers deadly “Seven Days of Danger’
PHUKET: The nationwide Seven Days of Danger road-safety campaign ended at midnight last night with three more deaths on Phuket’s roads than during last year’s safety efforts, but far fewer accidents reported. Nine deaths and 24 injuries in a total of 27 accidents were recorded by the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket branch (DDPM-Phuket). Last year, six people…
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Phuket Police bust man with “Million-baht meth foot’
PHUKET: Phuket Police have busted a man with methamphetamine crystals and pills, worth an estimated street value of one million baht, taped to his foot while they were making routine stops at a road checkpoint. Narong Pongkornsopha, a 35-year-old resident in the neighboring area of Pa Klok, was stopped at the checkpoint to the south of the Heroines’ Monument at…
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Phuket Police closing in on Phi Phi speedboat driver’s killers
PHUKET: Police have made headway in identifying and capturing the murderers of a Phi Phi speedboat driver who was stabbed to death in Phuket Town just before dawn yesterday. Ronnachai Chayliang, 26, was found dead in front of Wat Wichit Sangkharam, on Narisorn Road, at about 5:20am. He had suffered knife wounds to his neck, chest and back. “The body…
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Phuket Rohingya repatriated to Myanmar
PHUKET: In a stunning development this morning, Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut announced that the 71 Rohingya rescued from an open boat adrift off Phuket yesterday are en route to be repatriated to Myanmar. The move to repatriate the refugees, including women and children, came at the request of the refugees themselves, Gov Maitri said. Speaking at the monthly “Governor Meets…
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Krabi tourists roused by new year fire
PHUKET: Tourists on holiday in Ao Nang, Krabi, across the bay from Phuket, were roused from their new year slumber early yesterday morning as hotel staff ordered an emergency evacuation and firefighters attempted to douse a blaze in a room full of gas cylinders. Hundreds of tourists staying at the Ao Nang Buri Resort ran for the safety of Haad…
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Storm leaves 70 Rohingya adrift off Phuket
PHUKET: A boat carrying about 70 Rohingya fleeing persecution in their homeland in Myanmar were taken into custody by the Thai authorities off Phuket today.Local fisherman first sighted the boat off Bon Island, off Rawai Beach at the southern end of Phuket, and reported it to Rawai Municipality.“I was told by fishermen this morning that there was a suspicious-looking boat…
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Former NBT broadcaster Phuket’s first road death for the new year
PHUKET: A former broadcaster for the National Broadcasting Services of Thailand (NBT) has become the eighth person to die on Phuket’s roads since the Seven Days of Danger national new year road-safety campaign began last Thursday. Eak Eakwewchakul, 26, died when his Toyota sedan overshot a curve and hit a power pole near the Phuket Go-Kart track in Kathu on…
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Phuket 2012: Safety shaken, not stirred
PHUKET: The need for a quicker exit from Phuket’s nightlife capital of Patong was highlighted by the chaos on the road in the early hours of April 11, after a 7.3-magnitude, submarine earthquake, that struck off Sumatra, caused the National Disaster Warning Center to issue a tsunami “alert” (not a warning) that had coastal residents heading for the hills. A…
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Phuket’s deadly ‘Seven Days of Danger’ claims two more lives
PHUKET: Two men on a motorcycle on Thepkrasattri Road in Thalang were hit and crushed under a Phuket tour bus early this morning, bringing to seven the number of deaths in the ongoing “Seven Days of Danger” new year road-safety campaign. As is relatively standard practice in Phuket, the bus driver fled the scene and is being sought by the…
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Sydictive skips a beat in Phuket beach party launch
PHUKET: The crowd of 50,000 people predicted by the Sydictive party organizers has yet to appear on Patong Beach, despite the event having started last night. The much-ballyhooed party got off to a seven-hour late start yesterday due to incomplete preparations. It reopened today at 3pm to a small group of people. Despite some complaints on the Sydictive Element’s Facebook…
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Phuket 2012: Crimes take center stage
SPECIAL REPORT PHUKET: There were many high-profile crimes on Phuket in 2012. Perhaps none horrified the audience of the world as much as killing of Australian tourist Michelle Smith, 60. Mrs Smith, a travel agent, died from stab wounds after two men tried to steal her handbag and she fought back.Her assailants, Surasak Suwannachote and Surin Tadthong, were apprehended, tried…
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Go Eco Phuket record-breakers win “Person of the Year’
PHUKET: As with our ‘Person of the Year Award’ last year, we have again opted for the plural and are delighted to announce that the honor goes to two of the driving forces behind the launch of the marine conservation group Go Eco Phuket. The group united dive centers throughout the island and rallied the support of the Royal Thai…
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ENGLISH FOOTBALL ROUNDUP: Man City draw on recent memory for New Year title fight
PHUKET (Reuters): Champions Manchester City go into 2013 facing a daunting seven-point deficit on Premier League leaders Manchester United and a testing encounter against stubborn Stoke City on Tuesday.Roberto Mancini’s side ended the year which delivered their first Premier League title with a gritty 4-3 triumph over Norwich City, proving their high-profile players also have the mettle for a fight.It’s…
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Letter from the Phuket Governor: Working together for a brighter new year
Maitri Inthusut arrived on the island to take up the position of Governor of Phuket on October 8. With a master’s degree in political science from Thammasat University, he joined the National Security Council, rising to the position of NSC Secretary-General, before taking up the position of Chief Secretary for Secretariat of the Cabinet. He has also served as Governor…
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Phuket hospitality running on a full tank
As Phuket looks back a year full many negative news reports, the Phuket Gazette is happy to publish this reader’s first-person account of what makes living in Phuket great. PHUKET: Phuket is the Thailand I know and love. Having flown straight to the island and stayed, I have only heard rumors of “mainland” hospitality and the kindness Thai people are…
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Phuket moorings break loose, wreak havoc for yachtsmen at Chalong Bay
PHUKET: As yachts continue to arrive in Phuket ahead of the New Year’s Eve celebrations and countdown tonight, the new moorings installed in Chalong Bay late last month have already wreaked havoc, with brand-new mooring lines breaking and setting boats adrift. The broken lines have sent the yachts and other vessels to smash against their neighbors in the bay, resulting…
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Two dead in Phuket motorbike crash
PHUKET: Police are attempting to identify a foreign man and a woman killed in a motorcycle accident in Cherng Talay, on central Phuket’s west coast, last night.The pair were riding a motorcycle along the Cherng Talay-Baan Don Road when they were struck by a pickup truck in front of Soi Pasak 3 at about 9:15pm, Lt Col Rassada of the…
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Sydictive Phuket beach bash kicks off today – amid confusion and stringent rules
PHUKET: The Sydictive Element Phuket beach party has jumped its last bureaucratic hurdle, and with the setup for the mega-event now said to be 90 per cent complete, it’s finally “a go” for Patong Beach. However, the party organizers were handed a 15-point list of rules the party must adhere to or face the possibility of being shut down. “We…
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Aldhouse pleads “not guilty’ to Phuket murder charge
PHUKET: British national Lee Aldhouse entered a plea of not guilty this week for the murder of former US Marine Dashawn Longfellow in Phuket in 2010.Aldhouse was presented to the Phuket Provincial Court on Wednesday and formally charged with murder. The maximum penalty under the charge is death.“He has been charged with premeditated murder under Section 288 of the Thai…
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Phuket Poll: Should parking lots be mandatory?
PHUKET: Queuing is an unpleasant but unavoidable aspect of modern life – we queue to check in at the airport, to buy a movie ticket and to purchase things in a store. And more and more in Phuket, we queue to park our cars. Poor oversight of parking lots, lack of public transportation and a growing number of cars on…
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Colorful Countdown Phuket kicks off today
PHUKET: The New Year celebrations on the island starts at 6pm today as the annual “Colorful Countdown Phuket” for 2013 kicks off. The event, put on by the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization, will be held at Chai Field (map here), opposite Provincial Hall in Phuket Town. The event will host a variety of top Thai artists, including Thai-country rock singer…
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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