Phuket News
Phuket news, politics, business, tourism, and nightlife—stay updated with breaking stories, events, and expat updates from Thailand’s top island destination. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Phuket news source.
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Mystery mini-sub found on Koh Sirae
KOH SIRAE, PHUKET: Gazette staff today located and photographed the mini-submarine that has been at the center of a controversy over the presence of Tamil rebel operations in Phuket. But so far, the discovery of the mini-sub raises more questions than it answers. The part-finished sub is about five meters long and is large enough to hold two, perhaps three…
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Marine Police deny mini-sub report
PHUKET: Senior officers of the Phuket Marine Police today strenuously denied a news story in the Bangkok Post which asserted that authorities here had found a mini-submarine being built for Sri Lanka’s rebel Tamil Tigers. According to the Post, “Thai authorities” stumbled on the half-built 10-meter mini-sub in a shipyard in Koh Sirae, just outside of Phuket Town. Quoting “sources”,…
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Mud flies in Kathu election campaign
KATHU: With only eight days to go, the contest for 12 seats on the Kathu Municipal Council is becoming increasingly heated. On Wednesday, Somwong Torwong, candidate number 10 of the Kathu Ruamjai Party, was disqualified because it was found he is registered as living in Patong, not Kathu. As the application deadline was last month, Kathu Ruamjai, led by Suthep…
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Free window tint checks on offer
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket transportation officials say they have started providing free window tint tests for motorists. The tests are intended to help drivers comply with a law that has already gone into effect, but which will not be enforced until June 1 next year. The new law prohibits vehicles from having windows that block out more than 60% of light.…
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About-face on tinted windows
PHUKET: Phuket’s top traffic policeman, Pol Lt Col Teeraphol Thipjaroen, has responded with resignation to yesterday’s announcement in Bangkok that a new law barring heavily tinted windows in vehicles will not be enforced for at least a year. “So what can I do?” said Lt Col Teeraphol. “I don’t make law. I enforce it. So it will be another year…
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German held for stealing from Lotus
PHUKET TOWN: A German tourist was arrested Monday evening after allegedly stealing goods worth almost 30,000 baht from the Tesco-Lotus Supercenter. According to a police report seen by the Gazette, Uwe Gayer, 32, was observed queuing up at a payment counter with a full cart. Soon afterwards, Saranya Nathoongnui, a member of Lotus’ Prevention Before Loss Department, saw him turn…
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Bad numbers for gamblers
PHUKET: May 1 to May 25 was a bad time for Phuket’s gamblers, who once again topped the island’s arrests league. According to statistics released by the Phuket Provincial Police, a total of 167 people were arrested on charges related to gambling during the period. In second place were the 145 people held on narcotics charges. This figure included ya…
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“Ladies only” buses launched in Bangkok
BANGKOK (AFP): All-female “lady buses” will begin operating in Bangkok today, in a bid to eliminate sexual harassment of female passengers. The buses, which are marked with pink signs, will only take females and will “provide comfort and safety for women … freeing them from sexual harassment,” the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) said in a statement. If male passengers…
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Hospitals kept busy with traffic injuries
PHUKET: Eighteen people were killed in traffic accidents in Phuket between March 20 and April 20, a considerable improvement on last year. Last year the figure for the period – which includes Songkhran – was higher, with 25 deaths, of which 23 involved people on motorcycles. Ampaipan Pawawattananusorn of the Phuket Provincial Health Office reported that according to statistics from…
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Phang-nga Bay to receive a well deserved cleaning
PHUKET: To prepare for a promising high season, the Phuket Canoe Club, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), and Phang-Nga Bay National Park have announced plans for their 3rd annual “Cleaning Day” in Phang-Nga Bay, to be held on Sunday, July 9. According to figures supplied by 17 canoe companies in Phuket, 70,791 tourists from outside Asia, and 41,200 from…
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Illegal sea-walking to continue
PHUKET: Despite an almost two-year-old ban, illegal sea-walking companies were given another eight months to operate on Koh Hey, one of Phuket’s many outlying islands. At a recent meeting at Government House in Bangkok between Phuket Vice Governor Vongsak Sawaspanich, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), and Mrs Paveena Hongsakula, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office (Tourism Division), it was…
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Big Discounts to Europe on Lauda Air
PHUKET: Lauda Air has today announced a whopping 20% discount on Business Class fares from Phuket and Bangkok to any of its destinations in Europe. The offer is available to Gazette Shopper Card holders only and includes a bonus of an extra 10-kilograms in luggage allowance (from 30 kg to 40 kg). Tickets, whether originating from Phuket or Bangkok, must…
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Big hike in water prices imminent
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Town Municipality announced yesterday that the price of piped water supplied from the council’s waterworks will increase massively from next Thursday (June 1). The price will rise by as much as 33% for households and by as much as 44% for businesses. Deputy mayor Jongrak Narukatpichai explained that the hike was necessary because of the spiraling…
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Bus company boss finally gives up
PHUKET TOWN: Samkhan Saengfai, who a year ago proposed to launch Phuket’s first local bus service, has finally admitted defeat. K. Samkhan, managing director of PB Holdings, told the Gazette that his company would relinquish the concession it was awarded for two bus routes in Phuket Town. He explained that he had decided to pull out because the company would…
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Phuket favored for huge APEC summit
PHUKET: Phuket is the front-runner in the competition to be the venue for a major international summit conference three years from now. Around the end of October, 2003, about 7,500 heads of state, ministers and senior officials from Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries will descend on Thailand for a week of talks. Karoon Rechuyothin, deputy director-general of the Department…
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Man held for selling pirated game CDs
KARON: A street stall owner was arrested on Monday by Chalong Police for selling pirated computer game CDs. Pol Lt Teerawat Liumsuwan of Chalong police station told the Gazette that the arrested man, Charn Mongkolratsameeroj, sells CDs from a stall on Soi Bangla in Karon. He was taken into custody after being reported by Tanarat Meechaiyo, a representative of the…
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Fighter pilot crash-lands tuk-tuk
KAMALA: An American fighter pilot who later told police he was bored of flying jets, “borrowed” a tuk-tuk in the early hours of May 22. His high-speed flying skills did not get him far, however; he crashed the tuk-tuk into a ditch and landed in a punch-up with the vehicle’s owner. Pol Capt Komdej Pohthong of Kathu Police Station told…
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Gunman kills club owner’s brother
PATONG: Eekaphan Hin-on, 37, was shot dead in his brother’s snooker club early yesterday morning by a young gunman. The gunman, identified by police as Somjit Kongton, 20, ran away after the killing, but later that night went to the Kathu Police Station to turn himself in. According to Pol Capt Komdej Pohthong of Kathu Police Station, Eekaphan was talking…
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At last, lifeguards for beaches
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization, (OrBorJor), is to allocate 3 million baht to providing lifeguards on beaches during the monsoon season, it was announced today. Harnchai Jantarachote, president of the OrBorJor’s Tourism Committee, told the Gazette that statistics compiled by the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) reveal that about 30 people – Thais and foreigners – drowned last…
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Kamala family named as princess’ descendants
KAMALA: Chern Yayee, 62, from Kamala and his family have been named by the Malaysian Government as the long-lost relatives of Princess Mahsuri, a legendary figure in on the Malaysian island of Langkawi. The Yayee family have now been invited to Kuala Lumpur, where they will dine with Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamed, on May 31. According to the…
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Body found on Cape Panwa beach
AO MAKHAM: The body of a man believed to be a Muslim fisherman was found on the beach in front of the Cape Panwa Hotel on Tuesday evening. Pol Capt Cha-oom Kaosrisuwan of the Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that the man, as yet unidentified, wore a black T-shirt, a green camouflage jacket, and a pair of fishermen’s…
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Police catch second big drug dealer
PHUKET TOWN: Kamol Ratakarn, 27, described by police as a major drug dealer whose trademark was a bronze-colored BMW, was arrested on Tuesday evening in possession of 350 pills of ya bah (methamphetamine). He was the second big dealer arrested this month. On May 8, police caught Seksan Tuambang with 200 tablets of the drug. Pol Capt Passakorn Sonthikul told…
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Crackdown on tinted glass in cars
PHUKET: The traffic police will launch a drive soon against vehicles with very darkly tinted windows, it was announced today. Pol Lt Col Teeraphol Thipjaroen, Deputy Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that a new law comes into effect on June 6, making it illegal to have car windows that have tints cutting out more than 40%…
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Sleeping teenager shot dead
PATONG: A 15-year-old boy, sleeping peacefully at home, was killed in the early hours of Saturday in what police say appears to have been an accidental shooting. Pol Col Kokiat Wongworachart, Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette that Suchart Duangjamlong, 15, was asleep when two bullets, fired from outside, went through the wooden wall of the boy’s home.…
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Parties gear up for national poll
PHUKET: Two of Thailand’s three major political parties, the Democrats and Thai Rak Thai, are close to final selection of their candidates in the run-up to national elections which must be held before the end of this year. Because of the growth in its population, Phuket will elect two members of parliament – it currently has just one. Thai Rak…
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Sharply rising costs hit Laguna profits
PHUKET: Laguna Resorts & Hotels plc (LRH) saw its net profit drop 21% in the first quarter of 2000, compared with the same period of 1999. The drop, management explained, came mainly as the result of sharp increases in hotel operations and sales costs, and administration expenses. LRH made a profit of 143.6 million baht in the period, compared with…
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1999 a fine year for tourism in Phuket
PHUKET: Despite criticism that Phuket has become too expensive for its own good, the number of visitors coming to the island in 1999 was up by 15.9% compared with the previous year. This followed an increase of 10.8% between 1997 and 1998, and 4.8% between 1996 and 1997. The visitors also spent more; the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), which…
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Construction worker electrocuted
SAMKONG: A workman fixing an aluminum ceiling in a new house in the Sam Kong area died yesterday of electrocution. A colleague of the dead man told police that he was working at the back of the house on Yaowarat Rd, about 200 meters from the Bangkok Phuket Hospital, when he heard a scream from the front of the house.…
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Burmese fisherman murdered
PHUKET TOWN: A Burmese fisherman was found murdered in a rented house near the fishing port early yesterday morning. Pol Lt Kaneuing Pitakkultorn of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that, at around 10 am yesterday, he received a phone call informing him of the murder. In the house on Anuphasphuketkarn Rd in Tambon Rassada, Lt Kaneuing found the…
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Concessionaires sought for boat quay
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) has admitted defeat in its attempts to get tour boat operators to use its smart new Rassada Quay on Sri Sena Rd. Instead of trying to run the 65-million-baht quay itself, the OrBorJor now plans to call for bids from companies interested in running the pier on a concession basis. “We just…
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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