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.
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Massive casino for Phang Nga Bay
PHANG NGA: In a development likely to be disturbing to some, the government announced this morning that Phang Nga Bay is to become the site for Thailand’s first legal casino.The announcement was made following a hastily-convened session of Cabinet in Bangkok late yesterday evening, at which ministers agreed to invest a whopping 30 billion baht in the mega-facility. It will be built…
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Fishermen to strike over fuel price hike
PHUKET: Members of the Phuket Fishery Association will join a national work stoppage starting Monday (April 4) in protest at the 19% rise in diesel oil prices that came in on March 23. Association Chairman Somyot Boonyakul today told the Gazette that the diesel price hike – coupled with the already high price of regular gasoline – simply makes it…
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Gov calls for greater urgency in tsunami plan
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura has ordered the provincial branch of the Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (ODPM) to speed up its coastal evacuation planning and work more closely with local government bodies in order to prevent a repeat of the confusion that followed last Monday’s tsunami alert. Gov Udomsak made the call at yesterday’s monthly meeting of…
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Gov calls halt to public exorcisms
PHUKET CITY: Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura today called a halt to religious ceremonies in public areas held to appease ghosts of tsunami victims, with effect from next Tuesday.At a meeting of provincial government officers this morning, Governor Udomsak said, “There have been enough religious ceremonies [for tsunami victims]. If anyone needs to hold a religious ceremony, they can but only within…
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Thai, German scientists discuss tsunami topics
PHUKET CITY: Thai and German marine geologists gathered at the Royal Phuket City Hotel today for a seminar on a variety of tsunami-related topics.The three-day seminar, from March 29 to 31, covers such topics as sea floor mapping, bathymetric surveys, numerical modeling of tsunami events, seismic surveys of the Andaman Sea, marine ecology and coastal management for handling disaster. Speakers…
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Sixes cricket starts on seventh
KARON: The Lighthouse Phuket International Cricket Sixes tournament gets underway on April 7 at Karon Municipal Stadium. The 18 teams taking part in this year’s tournament include Gauhati Town Cricket Club from India, Lamma CC from Hong Kong and PALPA CC from Pakistan, as well as the Perth Postels and the Warathais from Australia. Local teams include the Green Man…
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UK policeman dies in road smash
TAKUA PA: A British police officer who was a member of the the UK’s Disaster Victims Identification (DVI) team working in Phuket died yesterday in a minibus crash in Phang Nga. Two of his colleagues were seriously injured.The accident happened around 4pm yesterday, when the minibus in which the three officers were travelling was in collision with a Phuket-Bangkok tour…
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Body in sea ‘probably a foreigner’
PHUKET: The body of an unidentified man, probably a foreigner, was found floating in the sea about one mile south of Laem Promthep yesterday. The gruesome discovery was made at about 11 am near Koh Kaew Pissadarn by fisherman Sanée Kreasang, 41.Pol Maj Chana Suttimath of the Chalong Police Station told the Gazette the man was at least 30 years…
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Senators slam banks, bureaucrats
PHUKET CITY: A Senate fact-finding team has found that only half of businesses and individuals affected by the tsunami have received any financial assistance from the Government. For this they blame bank lending policies, red tape and unhelpful officials.The senators, about 20 in all, met for a seminar at the Royal Phuket City Hotel on March 26 to discuss problems…
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V/Gov appeals for massive donations
PHUKET CITY: Vice-Governor Winai Buapradit has requested hundreds of millions of baht, along with practical support, from foreign donors, the Thai private sector and the Thai government to help Phuket recover fully from the December 26 tsunami.During a meeting at Provinical Hall on March 24, V/Gov Winai outlined several situations in which the local authorities need help in putting right damage…
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Pre-Songkran re-opening for aquarium
AO MAKHAM: The Phuket Aquarium will reopen to the public on April 9, after being closed for renovations and improvements for two and a half years.The management is marking the reopening by offering free admission to all on April 9 and 10.Wannakiat Tubtimsang, Director of Phuket Marine Biological Center, which runs the aquarium, told the Gazette that 81 million baht…
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Phuket on high alert, but no tsunami
PHUKET: Seaside towns and villages around Phuket were evacuated last night after warnings from the Meteorological Department that there was a high possibility of another tsunami hitting the island. The warnings came after a massive earthquake jolted Sumatra, just 200 kilometers from the site of the temblor that caused the tsunami on December 26 last year. That wave killed an…
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Dengue outbreak reports “exaggerated’
PHUKET CITY: Dr Wanchai Sattayawutthipong, Chief Of Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO), today denied media reports that 100 people in Phuket have contracted dengue fever already this year, saying that only half that number had been confirmed as having the disease.A report by the state-run Thai News Agency (TNA), an arm of the Mass Communications Organization of Thailand, for example,…
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Patong plan takes a step forward
PATONG: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will fund a 200-million-baht project to improve road surfaces, sidewalks and drains along the beach road in Patong, it was announced yesterday.The announcement came during the third meeting of a committee set up to oversee redevelopment of Patong in the wake of the December 26 tsunami. The meeting, held at Patong Municipal offices…
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Your police force needs you!
PHUKET: The Tourist Police are hoping to recruit 100 people, including foreigners, to complete a weekend-long course and become volunteer tourist police officers, capable of safeguarding the wellbeing of tourists.Phuket Tourist Police inspector Pol Maj Bundit Khaosutham told the Gazette that the course would cover topics such as first aid and how to spot con men and others who might…
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Mystery over murdered woman
RASSADA: Police are investigating the stabbing murder of an unidentified woman whose decaying corpse was discovered near the Sri Suchart Grand Ville 2 housing estate off the bypass road yesterday.Phuket City Police Investigator Pol Lt Col Tewet Preamsook told the Gazette today that the discovery of the body was reported in a telephone call by Chalong resident Arkom Na Takuatung…
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Smiling girl from Bangkok is “Miss Phuket’
PHUKET: A 19-year-old from Bangkok was last night named the “People’s Choice” out of the 44 young women competing to be named Miss Thailand Universe 2005.A total of 864 members of the 2,000-strong audience of VIPs at Phuket FantaSea voted for Nootsara “Jum” Suknamai to win the “Miss Phuket” award, after seeing all the contestants model batik and Yahya (Phuket-style)…
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Prince Andrew to visit Phuket
PHUKET: HRH Prince Andrew, fourth in line to the British throne and Britain’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, is due to visit Phuket on April 25 and 26 after attending Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan.The announcement was made by Phuket Vice-Governor Niran Kalayanamit following a meeting with representatives of the British Embassy and Buckingham Palace staff in Phuket…
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Tourists “will return in October’
PHUKET CITY: Panu Maswongsa, Vice-President of Marketing of the Phuket Tourism Association, has said that he expects the number of tourists visiting Phuket to return to normal by October, when European tourists start to come back in larger numbers.“The number of tourists [to Phuket] will not increase in the immediate future because we are now entering the low season, but…
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Tax breaks urged for movie makers
NAI YANG: Reducing taxation and slashing red tape could help revitalise the post-tsunami film industry in Phuket and surrounding provinces, a seminar heard yesterday.Delegates to the meeting, organised by the Office of Tourism Development and the Thai Film Office, were told that scenes for 441 foreign films were shot in Thailand in 2004, generating revenue of around 1.13 billion baht…
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Second disaster warning system for Patong
PHUKET: Patong has been chosen as the pilot site for the government’s high-tech Early Warning System for disasters and will have three siren poles operational by the end of April, an official from the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology said today.The announcement was made at the Phuket Governor’s Office this morning by Manus Somsang, deputy chairman of the sub-committe…
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Beauties and the four-wheel beasts
PHUKET: Demonstrating that there’s more to a beauty queen than good looks, the 44 competitors in the Miss Thailand Universe 2005 indulged in a little pistol shooting, raced all-terrian vehicles and rode on elephants.The activities, filmed by Channel 7 TV for broadcast on March 26, the day of final of the contest, took place at the Phuket Shooting Range. Yesterday…
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Chalong death “was suicide’
CHALONG: Police have identified the body found hanging from a rubber tree in Chalong in the early hours of yesterday morning as that of Wachara Rodklongtan, 21, who lived with his parents in a house in Soi Nakok, Chalong.Pol Maj Anek Mongkol, from Chalong Police Station, told the Gazette that K. Wachara is believed to have committed suicide. He disclosed…
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Kamala official denies stray dogs killings
KAMALA: The Chief Administrative Officer (Palad) of the Kamala Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) has denied claims that his staff have been culling stray dogs.Sajaphol Thongsom said he had asked the Phuket Livestock Office to move stray dogs from the area around the beach after one bit a tourist, but that the dogs had been sedated and moved to the dog…
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THAI offers packages to boost tourism
BANGKOK: The national carrier, Thai Airways International (THAI) today announced special domestic packages offered by its Royal Orchid Holidays subsidiary aimed at kickstarting the tourism-led economies of Phuket, Krabi and Trang Provinces following the tsunami.The “Southern Sun and Sea” round-trip packages will be available for departures from Bangkok to the three southern provinces with prices pegged at 5,000 baht per…
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Plea for Fiona to contact parents
TORBAY, UK: The parents of Englishwoman Fiona Hodgkinson – who is known to have arrived in Bangkok in February and indicated that she was planning to stay at the Siam Hut, near Bai Lan Bay (Lonely Bay) on Koh Chang – are asking for help in ensuring that she is safe. Ms Hodgkinson is 30 but looks younger. She is approximately…
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Miss Thailand Universe beauties touch down
PHUKET: Forty-four beauties – all entrants in the Miss Thailand Universe 2005 contest – arrived at Phuket International Airport today at the beginning of an arduous round of photo opportunities and public appearances aimed at promoting Phuket’s wobbly tourism market.Among the places the lovely ladies are set to visit are Wat Chalong, the Phuket Home for the Aged, Patong’s infamous…
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Tsunami jobless scheme extended
PHUKET CITY: With the number of people being made redundant by tsunami-hit businesses soaring, the Phuket Provincial Labor Office (PPLO) has extended its employment creation scheme that offers low-skill government work to the jobless.According to figures compiled by Phuket Social Security Office (PSSO), in January, 46 people on the island registered to say that they had been made redundant; in…
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Krabi tsunami corpses transfered to Phuket
PHUKET: Ten refrigerated containers holding the bodies of tsunami victims from Krabi Province have been transfered to the cemetery at Mai Khao.Five containers holding 212 bodies were brought to Phuket on Sunday and the other five arrived yesterday. The temporary mortuary in Krabi has now been closed.The bodies, all of which are believed to belong to foreigners, will be kept…
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Police get training in handling bombs
PHUKET CITY: The Special Operations Unit (SOU) of Phuket Provincial Police are receiving some timely training in the use of blast suppression blankets – commonly known as bomb blankets – from Frank Boyd, a Supervisory Security Specialist with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service at the US Embassy in Bangkok. Pol Capt Charkrawat Buntaweekulsawat, the Chief of Phuket SOU, stressed that…
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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