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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Tong trial adjourned as witness fails to appear
PHUKET TOWN: The trial of five men accused in the June 1997 murder of American Danis Wayne Tong was adjourned again today after a witness failed to appear. Two witnesses were scheduled to testify for the prosecution, but only one attended the court. The defense argued that since the testimony of the two witnesses was in relation to the same…
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British teacher jailed for molesting six-year-old
BANGKOK (AFP): A 52-year-old British school teacher has been sentenced to six years in jail after pleading guilty to sexually molesting a Thai pupil, court officials said today. A judge in Thanyaburi court in Bangkok’s northern suburbs initially sentenced Peter William Maxey to 12 years in jail, but halved the sentence after taking into account his admission of guilt. Social…
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Tourists witness murder of tuk-tuk driver
PHUKET TOWN: A horrified group of Western tourists watched helplessly as their tuk-tuk driver was shot dead by a hit-man in the road outside The Metropole hotel in Phuket Town on Saturday night. Prasit Petchkong, 56, from Phattalung province, had just picked up the group when two men on a black Honda Dream motorcycle with no license plates stopped nearby.…
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New Governor flies in tomorrow
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket’s new Governor, Charnchai Soontharamut, will arrive in Phuket tomorrow. He will be met at the airport by the province’s vice-governors and members of the local civil service before being whisked away on a tour of the island. But conspicuously absent from the airport greeting will be 60 of Phuket’s top movers and shakers. They leave tonight on…
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Thai wins country’s first surfing contest
KATA BEACH: Chalong Tonaus, 24, is no longer just a lad from Phitsanulok working as a beach boy in Patong. On Sunday, he became the first surfing champion in Thailand. Chalong was elated by his victory over some 50 other surfers in the Quicksilver Phuket Surfing Contest, organised by Aloha Surf Sports in cooperation with the Tourist Authority of Thailand…
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Police say burglary detection rates up sharply
PHUKET TOWN: Police detection rates in burglary offences have risen significantly this year compared with the previous two years, latest statistics from Phuket Town Police Station show. In 1997, police received 372 reports of burglary, and made arrests in 258 of them, a detection rate of 69%. Last year there were 401 reported burglaries, of which 282, or 70%, were…
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Patong may be first beach to have lifeguards
KATHU: Pol. Col. Kokiat Wongvorachart, Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette this morning that his unit is sponsoring two new tourist safety projects for the coming high season in Patong. The proposals are currently awaiting approval from the Ministry of Interior in Bangkok. Khun Kokiat says he is optimistic that approval, along with the required budget allocations, will…
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Rough seas for software pirate
BANGKOK (AFP) – A Thai-Japanese engineering firm has paid the largest ever out-of-court settlement in southeast Asia for the use of pirated software, a software industry alliance announced this morning. “This settlement sends a very clear warning: using pirated software carries high risks and will result in severe financial penalties,” said Heuy Tan of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) in…
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Qantas 747 accident closes airport runway
BANGKOK (AFP): One runway at Bangkok’s Don Muang Airport was closed today after a jet belonging to the Australian airline Qantas ploughed off the end of it while landing in heavy rain last night. None of the 410 passengers and crew aboard the plane was seriously injured, a Qantas spokeswoman said, but the Boeing 747 sustained damage to the nose,…
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Swedish tourist drowns in pool
PATONG: A 23-year-old Swedish tourist drowned yesterday evening in the swimming pool at the Patong Beach Hotel. Ken Anders Thunhtrom was in Phuket on holiday with three friends. All four went swimming in the pool, which was crowded with other tourists. The friends told police that they realized they had not seen Mr Thunhtrom for about 20 minutes. After looking…
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Appeal for help in dugong preservation drive
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Provincial Forestry Office has issued an appeal for people to help in a national survey of dugong. The aim is to preserve these slow-moving, vegetarian, marine mammals. Dugongs are one of the 15 species of animals protected by Thai law, but their numbers have diminished significantly over the past few years, partly because of destruction of…
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Fruit seller charged with rape of child
PHUKET TOWN: A 53-year-old man has been arrested by Phuket Town police and charged with the repeated rape of a 13-year-old girl. The man was arrested after a Patong Beach food seller reported that her daughter had been raped a number of times by the man, a fruit merchant in the Patong area. The daughter told police that she had…
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Police “know who Supercheap killers are’
PHUKET TOWN: Police believe they now know the identities of the two men involved in the recent Supercheap murder-robbery, but are compiling more forensic and witness evidence before they can move to arrest them. Pol Col Chalit Thintanee, superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that he and his men are currently awaiting the results of forensic tests…
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14-year-old girl sold her body to buy drugs
PHUKET TOWN: Shortly after the discovery recently of the body of a man stabbed 58 times on the playing fields near the public housing estate in Tambon Rassada, Phuket Town, police were again in action in the area on Saturday, this time after a tip-off that drugs were being traded there. Their raid netted four young people in possession of…
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Factory explosion kills 22, injures dozens more
CHIANG MAI, (AFP): At least 22 people were killed and dozens injured this morning when an explosion destroyed a Taiwanese-owned fruit factory in San Pa Tong, northern Chiang Mai province, police said. All of the victims were Thai. The blast ripped through a longan processing plant while 30 people were working in it. Bodies and charred equipment lay in the…
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Skal Golf event raises 125,000 baht for charity
CHERNG TALAY: The Skal Club held a highly successful golf tournament on Wednesday at the Banyan Tree Golf Club, raising 125,000 baht for charity. Forty-six golfers took part. A total of 65,000 baht was raised on the golf course, plus 4,000 baht from the dinner at the Whispering Cock pub following the tournament, 42,000 baht in an auction, and 18,000…
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Court told how Tong murder suspects were arrested
PHUKET TOWN: A senior policeman gave evidence in court today about the circumstances surrounding the arrests of four of the five people charged in connection with the 1997 murder of American businessman Danis Wayne Tong. On trial for the murder are Thais Manit Panme, Pratin Praktong, Prajuab Sukkong and Pairat Raksawong, and Belgian Hugo Vandervelde. Prosecution witness Pol Maj Sian…
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Man found dead with 58 stab wounds
PHUKET: Police are trying to identify a man found dead yesterday of multiple stab wounds in the playing fields on Soi Si Sena, near Phya Thai Hospital. Pol Maj Vinai Kongkaew of the Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that the man had 58 stab wounds — in his back, neck and ears. The victim, Pol Maj Vinai said,…
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Film to be screened free to dodge censorship
BANGKOK (AFP): Organizers of the Bangkok Film Festival refused today to cut scenes from a controversial Dutch film and said they would hold free screenings in order to avoid violating a censorship law passed in the 1930s. Festival director Brian Bennett said he had been told by police that the film “Jesus was a Palestinian” would have to be cancelled…
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Microsoft battles to fix “very dangerous” bug
SEATTLE: Microsoft Corp is rushing to create a patch for flaws in its Internet Explorer web browser, versions 4 and 5, and in Outlook 98. These flaws allow anyone who has a website, or who can send email in HTML format, to upload instructions to the victim’s computer. Phuket-based computer expert Michael Jenselius said: “Anybody can do it through a…
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Thailand to lead SEA force in East Timor
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand today agreed to a request from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that it lead the Southeast Asian contingent in the international force for East Timor, officials said. Thailand will take the post of deputy commander of the operation under Australia’s overall command, government spokesman Akapol Sorasuchart said. “Kofi Annan wanted to see Thai cooperation and involvement as…
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French team to train local police in VIP security
PHUKET: Eight expert bodyguards from France will arrive in Phuket next month to teach police here how to mount effective security for the growing number of VIPs visiting the island. Pol Col Kokiat Wongvarachart, superintendent of Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette that the team will be led by Thierry Guilleminot, technical director of the police unit which provides security…
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Patong takes different approach to dog killings
PATONG: Following the recent announcement by Phuket Municipality that it has launched a month-long drive to kill stray dogs, the Mayor of Patong, Pian Keesin, has told the Gazette that his town, too, is targeting strays, though its approach is somewhat different. “You see, Patong has a lot of tourists,” he explained. “If the officers want to kill stray dogs,…
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Prurience leads to arrest, charges”¦ and hospital
PATONG: A laborer who molested a Czech tourist early on Saturday morning ended up in hospital with a broken leg and the prospect of a prison sentence. Pol Col Kokiat Wongvorachart, Superintendent of Kathu police station, told the Gazette that the tourist, 20-year-old Jana Mikulasona, was staying in the Kalim Apartments with her American boyfriend. The two went out on…
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New source of funding for smaller firms
PHUKET TOWN: Amnuay Sanguannam, one of Phuket’s three vice-governors, today opened the newest branch of the Industrial Finance Corporation of Thailand (IFCT), at 18/15-16 Mae Luan Rd, Phuket Town. It will serve companies in both Phuket and Phang-Nga. Anothai Techamontrikul, the Bangkok-based president of the IFCT, said the Phuket branch was expected to approve 200 million baht in loans to…
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Gun found: May be Supercheap murder weapon
PHUKET TOWN: Police say they have found a gun that may be the one used in the Supercheap murder-robbery on Monday. Speaking with reporters today, Pol Maj Gen Kongpol Suwannaraks, commander of police in Phuket Province, declined to say where the gun had been found. He said investigators are currently awaiting the results of forensic tests to determine whether the…
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Thai woman in Kamala suicide
PATONG: Police were called to the Kamala home of a retired Western businessman yesterday after receiving a report that his girlfriend had committed suicide. Pol Lt Col Suchert Supmee told the Gazette that they found the body of 26-year-old Wannapa Pasom, from Nakhon Phanom, hanging by the neck from a belt attached to window security bars in the bathroom. The…
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Magic date sees boom in babies, car sales
PHUKET TOWN: The Thai for the number nine sounds like the Thai for “to advance” or “make progress”. So today – 9/9/99 – was a special day in Thailand, and very much so in Phuket. At hospitals babies were induced, or even delivered by Caesarian section, so that they would enter the world on this auspicious date. The director of…
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Tourist Police boss appeals for help
PHUKET TOWN: The new Inspector of Phuket’s Tourist Police today appealed to the private sector for help in repairing the department’s two vans, eight cars and eight motorcycles. Pol Lt Col Chak Onnim – who moved to Phuket on August 23 from Chokchai Police Station in Bangkok, where he was in charge of investigations – explained that the hilly landscape…
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Police issue sketches of murder duo
PHUKET TOWN: Police have issued sketches of two men wanted for the murder of the accountant for the Supercheap warehouse store yesterday afternoon, and the theft of 1.7 million baht that the victim, Jennarong Utoksaenee, was taking to the bank. Jennarong, 65, was shot three times with a .375 caliber pistol wielded by the passenger of a motorcycle which drew…
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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