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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Six “smuggled’ boats seized
CHERNG TALAY: Phuket Marine Police yesterday seized three jet-skis and three jet-boats worth a total of about 10 million baht during a raid on a house in Cherng Talay. Pol Lt Col Prasert Srikunnarath, Inspector of the Phuket Marine Police, told the Gazette that officers had not been provided with official documentation to show how the vessels were brought to…
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One dead, 11 hurt in Patong pileup
PATONG: A man died and 11 other people were slightly injured in a three-vehicle pileup that paralysed traffic during peak hour at one of Patong’s major intersections yesterday. A truck laden with construction tools and bags of cement came barrelling down Patong hill about 5 pm, crashing into a pickup laden with workers and a mini-bus. The force of the…
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300 fake watches seized in Karon
KARON: About 300 fake luxury-brand watches with an estimated retail value of more than 500,000 baht were seized in two sting operations in the Karon area on Friday night. Two dealers were taken into custody. Pubate Mingkwan, legal representative in Thailand for a number of well-known brands, came to Phuket from Bangkok to investigate reports that knock-off watches bearing logos…
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Ambassador seeks 12-month visas for Filipinos
PHUKET TOWN: Filipinos who work in Phuket should be able to obtain one-year visas instead of three-month or six-month visas, the new Philippines Ambassador to Thailand, Antonio V Rodriguez, said today at the end of his first official visit to the island. Making the plea in talks with Vice Governor Niran Kalayanamit, he noted that many entertainers and musicians were…
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A chunk of change for good karma
PHUKET TOWN: A pair of good Samaritans returned two cash checks with a combined value of 526,000 baht to their rightful owner after discovering them beneath a car on Monday. Swede Fredrik Klingvall, owner of O’Malley’s Irish Pub on Montri Rd, and his Thai friend Kraiwut Kunbaan had just finished eating lunch at a restaurant on Yaowarat Road when they…
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More tales from the dog pound
PHUKET TOWN: The dog pound design that turned out to be a dog’s breakfast has been cleaned up, say officials. Capable of holding 1,000 animals, Phuket’s pound will open for business on March 1 next year at the latest, the Chief of the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office (PPLO), Sunart Wongchawalit, told the Gazette yesterday. There was consternation last year when…
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Pian gets green light for election
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Election Committee (PEC) has dismissed a complaint against mayoral candidate Pian Keesin, allowing him to stand in the Patong mayoral election on February 8. Kittipong Thiengkunagrit, Director of the PEC, told the Gazette today that the PEC had carefully considered the complaint, lodged on January 19 by rival candidate Songserm Kepsap. K. Songserm presented the PEC…
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Youth shot in second gang outrage
CHERNG TALAY: A crowd of about 100 people massed outside Cherng Talay Police Station last night after an incident in which a young gang member shot a teenager from another gang in the leg. The victim, Jittisak “Sak” Tamtorpol, 18, was wounded at about 9:30 pm while sitting outside a mosque near his home, not far from Surin beach, said…
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Crackdown prompts driving license surge
PHUKET TOWN: A crackdown by Phuket police has sparked a rush by car drivers and motorcyclists to apply for licenses, with the number of applicants jumping from an average of 65 a day to around 120. Another factor in the increase has been a change in national policy that allows people registered as living in other provinces to take a…
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Pian dismisses allegation as “a game’
PATONG: Pian Keesin, leader of the recently-formed Rak Patong Party, has dismissed an attempt to have him barred from forthcoming municipal elections in Patong as “a political game”. As reported yesterday by the Gazette Online, the leader of the Patong Progress Party, Songserm Kepsap, has furnished officials of the Phuket Election Commission (PEC) with documents he claims show that K.…
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TRT throws its weight into local elections
PHUKET TOWN: The involvement for the first time of the powerful Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party should add a new dimension to Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) elections in Phuket, scheduled for March 14. This development has put two former vice-presidents and colleagues, Samroeng Chaisorn and Wisut Santikun, on opposing teams as rival candidates for OrBorJor President. K. Samroeng will campaign…
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Phuket summit meeting postponed
BANGKOK (The Nation): The inaugural summit of five Asian nations scheduled to take place next month in Phuket has been postponed indefinitely after India’s Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, canceled due to internal politics. Mr Vajpayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party is gearing up for general elections in April or May. A new date for the summit of the five leaders of…
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Pian facing corruption allegation
PHUKET: Patong mayoral candidate Songserm Kepsap and three members of the Patong Progress Team today filed a complaint with the Phuket Election Committee (PEC) against the leader of their opponents, Pian Keesin of the Rak Patong Team, claiming that K. Pian is ineligible to stand in the February 8 Patong mayoral election. K. Songserm said, “We lodged the complaint in…
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Out with foreign touts
PATONG: Phuket Immigration officers rounded up 24 foreigners over the weekend and charged them with illegal entry into Thailand and working without permits. They are now being held in a Phuket Immigration Police cell awaiting deportation. The operation was aimed at enforcing Article 38 of the Immigration Act of 1979, which has long been ignored by many guesthouse owners. Under…
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Phuket Air “won’t join fares war’
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Air will not be joining the cheap-tickets war sparked by the launch of Air Asia, its Chief Executive Officer said today. Group Capt Patana Tareekes was speaking at Phuket International Airport, where the inaugural flight of Phuket Air’s new five-times-weekly service, linking Haad Yai with Ranong via Phuket, landed at 10:30 this morning. “We are not going…
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No bird ‘flu on Phuket – official
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Commercial Office has reassured consumers that no cases of avian ‘flu or diarrhea have been reported on Phuket – although huge numbers of chickens elsewhere in Asia have been affected. Archint Ongsakul, a commercial technician from the PPCO, told the Gazette today, “Phuket has no problem with this disease.” A watchdog group, the Consumer Force Association…
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Gov backs earlier bar closing
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura today came down squarely behind Bangkok’s push to introduce early closing for all entertainment venues. He added that he did not believe the island’s tourist trade would be affected because it was Phuket’s natural beauty that visitors came to see, an argument repeatedly put forward by his predecessor, Pongpayome Vasaputi. The governor’s comments put…
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Patong plans early-closing protest
PATONG: About 150 people from Patong’s entertainment industry met today to discuss measures to oppose government proposals to close the country’s nightlife at midnight. Hundreds more are expected to take part in a full-scale protest at 3 pm on Saturday. Talk of preemptive closures of bars in Patong from 1 am on January 19 was denied by local police as…
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Island to get ‘up to standard’ abattoir
PHUKET TOWN: In an effort to improve food safety standards in Phuket, the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) and Provincial Livestock Office have agreed to get together to build a 60-million baht slaughterhouse in Kathu using a government-subsidized 5% loan from the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Bank. PPLO Chief Sunart Wongchawalit told the Gazette today that the facility, to…
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Mystery over Russian girl’s death
CHERNG TALAY: Mystery surrounds the death of a 10-year-old Russian girl vacationing with her family at the five-star Dusit Laguna Resort Hotel. Police said they suspected the girl might have been electrocuted, but a senior Dusit manager rejected this theory, saying the hotel was awaiting the conclusions of doctors who were examining the body. The girl, named by police as…
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Reminder on foreigners’ wages
PHUKET: Pol Capt Krissarat Nuesen, Deputy Inspector of the Phuket Provincial Immigration Office (PPIO), has reminded foreigners that, starting on July 10 this year, new minimum wage requirements will come into effect for foreigners seeking one-year permits to stay in Thailand on the basis of holding work permits. He said the new rates, which will nearly double the minimum wage…
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Seven glue sniffers arrested
PHUKET TOWN: Seven glue sniffers came unstuck early yesterday morning when police officers on patrol caught them enjoying their preferred form of substance abuse, inhaling the vapor of rubber-based glue. Pol Col Apirak Hongthong, Deputy Commander of Phuket Provincial Police, and a sortie of officers were on their nightly midnight-to-6 am patrol when they came across five youngsters sniffing glue…
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Laguna “confident’ on tin mine titles
THALANG: James Batt, Joint Managing Director of Laguna Resorts & Hotels, has hailed as “good news” the announcements by various officials that the land titles for the 13 plots on which the hotel complex is built are legitimate. Both the Provincial Land Office and the provincial version of the Committee to Solve Problems of Encroachment on State Land (KorBorRor) have…
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Patong vendors’ chief cleared in searches
PHUKET: Police searches of six Phuket properties belonging to Patong Vendors’ Association President Somwang “Lae” Wonghan, 39, have failed to turn up any illegal firearms, Pol Lt Col Chartchai Nikorthanon, Deputy Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, has told the Gazette. The raids, which were led by Phuket Town Police Station Superintendent Pol Col Paween Pongsirin and Phuket Town District…
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Arson possible cause of Cherng Talay blaze
CHERNG TALAY: Tum Salathai, a seafood restaurant on the entry road to Laguna Phuket, burned to the ground in the early hours of Wednesday. Police are investigating arson as one of two possible causes of the blaze. Restaurant manager Weerachai Srabua told the Gazette today that the blaze started at about 4 am. “People outside noticed the fire. They ran…
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Kota Bahru visa run “still safe’
PHUKET: Despite continuing violence in the south of Thailand, the visa officer at the Thai Consulate in Kota Bahru, Malaysia, insists that the security situation along the border is still calm and that many foreigners continue to arrive each day to renew visas. Kota Bahru is the Thai consulate closest to Phuket, and one of a few in the region…
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Cheap fares for Phuket-Bangkok flights
PHUKET: Thai Airways International (THAI) is offering a limited number of seats on its Phuket-Bangkok route at the low price of 3,400 baht return or 1,700 baht one-way. The seats are being allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, and are most likely to be awarded to people paying for and collecting their tickets at least 48 hours in advance of a…
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War weapons recovered in Kathu
KATHU: Police recovered a briefcase full of explosives along a road in Kathu early Monday morning after investigating an anonymous tipoff. Responding to a call phoned in on the emergency 191 number at about 1:30 am on January 5, Deputy Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pol Col Apirak Hongthong ordered officers from Thung Thong Police sub-district to secure the location before…
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Laos travel warnings issued
WASHINGTON: The US Department of State has warned US citizens against travel in parts of Laos, including Vientiane province, routes along the Thai-Laos border, and on roads throughout the country, following a number of deadly attacks in recent months. The State Department said in its warning, issued yesterday (January 6), that the attacks, although not apparently directed at Americans or…
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Roads claim three lives over holidays
PHUKET: Three people were killed on Phuket roads from December 29-January 4, the same as over last year’s holiday period, despite a marked increase in the number of police checkpoints and arrests for drunk driving. There was, however, a dramatic decrease in the number of injuries recorded. Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura this morning told the Gazette that all three victims…
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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