News
Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond. The Thaiger delivers the latest national news that matters.
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Russian teen student still in coma after horrific motorbike crash
PHUKET: Vlad Abrashko, the Russian student who was driving the motorbike involved in the high-speed accident on the bypass road two weeks ago (story here), has been discharged from hospital with a broken leg. His passenger Sevastian Lukashov, however, remains comatose at Phuket International Hospital, a source close to the teens has confirmed to the Phuket Gazette. With Mr Abrashko…
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Phuket chef charged with setting alight motorbikes
PHUKET: A chef at a seafood restaurant in Karon has confessed to setting alight three motorbikes after he was shown CCTV footage of himself throwing a live cigarette butt at one of the vehicles.Karon Police arrested Ek Musika, 39, at 5:30pm yesterday after officers tracked him down through the CCTV footage of the incident and by questioning local residents.The incident…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Gold sales soar as price falls; Teachers charged for toddler’s death; Police corruption probe continues
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Gold sales soar as price dips below Bt20,000 per baht weight The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Local gold has been sold below Bt20,000 per baht weight for the first time since 2011, following a sharp fall in global prices over the past few days.Bullion for immediate delivery…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Boston bomb suspect identified; Assad threatens West; Suu Kyi on Myanmar tensions
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Boston bomb suspect identified on video, no arrest made Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Investigators believe they have spotted a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing from security video, a U.S. law enforcement source said on Wednesday, but no arrest had yet been made.Police may make an appeal…
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Tourists offer high praise for rescue efforts after storm sinks dive boat north of Phuket
PHUKET: Tourists have heaped high praise on all those involved in the rescue of 30 people from a sinking dive boat and the safe recovery of 425 others after a severe storm left a flotilla of tour boats returning from the Similan Islands stranded at Koh Ta Chai, north of Phuket. The 24-meter dive boat Little Princess, with 30 people…
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Phuket’s first fatality of Songkran Seven Days of Danger hits on day six
PHUKET: Phuket’s run of zero road fatalities during the Songkran Seven Days of Danger holiday period ended early this morning, when 75-year-old Phuket native Jingiang Jamreunnam died from injuries sustained in a motorbike accident.Mr Jingiang was riding an unsafe motorbike when it collided with a pickup truck in Phuket Town at 8:30am yesterday.He suffered a serious head injury and died…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Airports on bomb alert; AEC opportunity for organized crime; Blast kills one in Pattani
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Airports on alert after US bombings The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Security at Thailand’s major airports will be stepped up following the Boston Marathon bombings, according to a senior executive of Airports of Thailand. Pongsak Semsant, caretaker president of AOT, said yesterday the latest violent…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Boston mourns marathon bomb victims
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Boy, 8, ‘dream daughter’, Chinese citizen killed in Boston blasts Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Neighbours gathered around a chalk rainbow on a sidewalk outside 8-year-old Martin Richard’s home while friends of Krystle Campbell, 29, posted notes on Facebook, all grieving on Tuesday for two of…
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Ladyboy nabbed for topless Songkran show
PHUKET: A deeply-invested transsexual was nabbed by Pattaya Police for dancing topless during Songkran celebrations this past week. Narinmek Phaophan, 21, told cops he/she had spent half a million baht on surgery to be transformed into a woman – and she wanted people to see the results of her investment. On April 13, police were tipped off by local people…
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Phuket Finance: Note the contrarian investor
PHUKET: Contrarian investors are those who generally do the opposite of what the majority do. There are many forms, but basically they can all be summed up by the old Wall Street adage, “Buy Low, Sell High.” As simple and as logical as this advice sounds, in practice the majority of investors in fact do the opposite. The lonely contrarians…
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Phuket Songkran road toll remains at zero dead
PHUKET: The fifth day of the Seven Days of Danger nationwide road-safety campaign came to a close at midnight last night with the death toll for the Thai new year holiday period in Phuket remaining at zero.The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket office (DDPM-Phuket), which collates all road accident statistics in Phuket during the campaign, reported two motorbike…
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Gimp thief not gold shop killer; identified by chicken-frying ladyboy
PHUKET: It was briefly thought they had snared the Phuket gold shop killer (story here) when Karon Police yesterday arrested a burglar with a limp – one of the key characteristics in the search for the murderer. Phuket City policeman Lt Col Prawit Engchuan joined the questioning of the suspect but said afterward, “We determined that he has no connection…
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Tesco shopping online
PHUKET: Leading domestic hypermarket chain Tesco Lotus last week launched online grocery shopping and home delivery services for its customers in Bangkok. Asked if the retail giant had plans to launch such services in Phuket, Ms Salinla Seehaphan, Corporate Affairs Director, revealed that: “Our plan is to offer a convenient online grocery shopping service to all of our customers in…
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Phuket Songkran: Four days without death on the roads
PHUKET: For the first time in years, Phuket has maintained its zero death toll for the first four days of the Songkran Seven Days of Danger national road-safety campaign. The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket office (DDPM-Phuket), which collates all road accident statistics for Phuket during the campaign, reported three road accidents, injuring three people, from midnight Saturday…
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Phuket Police release graphic YouTube video of gold shop robbery
PHUKET: In an effort to identify an armed robber of a Phuket gold shop, police have released a graphic YouTube video of the man entering the C.P. Gold Master & Jewelry store and shooting dead one of the customers (story here). In addition to releasing the video compiled from CCTV camera footage, police will be plastering Phuket with wanted posters,…
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Eight injured as Phuket bus overturns in Krabi
PHUKET: Eight passengers received minor injuries when a bus heading from Phuket to Trang ran off the road and overturned in Krabi on Sunday.The accident occurred at about 2pm, Lt Panom Parnmart of Ao Luek Police told the Phuket Gazette.“Rescue workers rushed to the scene to find the bus on its roof in a roadside ditch about two meters deep.“Arjara…
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All silent on Phuket Tourist Police kratom shootout
PHUKET: The two survivors of a lethal shootout at an apartment near Phuket Town last month have both refused to give police statements describing the events that led to the fatal gunfight. Sen Sgt Maj Pinchai Piyadilok of the Phuket Tourist Police remains at the Prince of Songkla University Hospital in Haad Yai, where he is recovering from gunshot wounds…
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Phuket Police bust ATM card fraud gang
PHUKET: Tourist Police have arrested two French nationals and a Tunisian man for operating an ATM card fraud scam in Phuket.The foreigners – named by police as French nationals Mahamond Mhoussin, 22, and Zaidi Ganzouai, 29, and Tunisian national Ramzi Adjemi, 31 – were presented to the press at the Phuket Tourist Police headquarters in Phuket Town this morning.“Tourist Police…
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Phuket Gazette World News Exclusive: Lion Air crash pilot felt jet ‘dragged’ from sky
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Exclusive: Lion Air crash pilot felt jet ‘dragged’ from sky Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: The pilot whose Indonesian jet slumped into the sea while trying to land in Bali has described how he felt it “dragged” down by wind while he struggled to regain control, a person…
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Phuket seawalkers deny destroying corals
PHUKET: About 200 square meters of coral have been damaged off Khai Nai island in Phang Nga, say local marine officials, in order to create a pathway for tourists to walk on the sea floor. The manager of the seawalking company at the site, however, has defended his business, telling the Phuket Gazette it is environmentally friendly and had not…
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Phuket Gazette World News: All safe after Bali airplane ditches into water
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community All passengers safe as Lion Air plane lands in water in Bali Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: All 108 passengers and crew survived when a Lion Air Boeing 737 missed the runway on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Saturday and landed in shallow water, an airline…
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Phuket Songkran: 48 hours with no road deaths
PHUKET: The second day of the Seven Days of Danger nationwide road-safety campaign for the Songkran Thai new year holiday period passed on Phuket without recording any deaths, leaving the island’s road toll for the period so far at zero. The Seven Days campaign began at midnight on Wednesday (story here). The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket office…
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French tourist cries robbed after Phuket spending spree
PHUKET: A French tourist, afraid his wife would be angry at him for spending too much money on holiday in Phuket, was arrested yesterday for filing a false report to police, in which he claimed he was robbed by two teenagers. The Frenchman, named by police as Marc Forestier, 54, arrived at Karon Police Station at about 2:30pm to file…
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Filipino caught with 7kg of crystal meth at Phuket Airport
PHUKET: Customs officials at Phuket International Airport yesterday arrested a Philippine national trying to smuggle seven kilograms of crystal methamphetamine (ya ice) into the country.Officials estimated that the drugs netted had a street value of 30 million baht.The suspect, identified by police as Sonny Pasong Cornel, 31, initially claimed he had no knowledge the bag he was carrying contained drugs.However,…
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Phuket Songkran starts early, Governor urges ‘Safety First’
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut has called for all officers island-wide to make public safety their top priority during the Songkran celebrations, which unofficially started early in Patong late today.Governor Maitri specifically ordered that extra officers be posted at the six official water-play zones on the island: – Saphan Hin Park, Phuket Town– Kata-Karon beachfront– Soi Bangla and Patong beach…
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British sex fiend arrested in Phuket
PHUKET: British national Hugh Glass, 57, wanted for multiple sex crimes involving children, was arrested yesterday afternoon while walking along the beach road in Phuket’s key tourism town of Patong.Col Chayawut Jansomboon of the Immigration Police in Bangkok led officers to arrest Mr Glass on Thaweewong Road at 3:30pm.The arrest followed a meeting between Jonathan King of the UK-based Serious…
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Unidentified body found off Phuket Deep Sea Port
PHUKET: Police are trying to determine the identity of a man whose body was discovered off Cape Panwa, on the east coast of Phuket, today.Local villagers found the body floating near the channel marker to the Deep Sea Port at about 12:30pm.“We believe the body was in the water for more than five days before it was found,” Sub Lt…
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Phuket Songkran: Four accidents but no deaths on Day 1
PHUKET: The first 24 hours of Phuket Seven Days of Danger road-safety campaign for the Songkran holidays passed with zero deaths.The annual road-safety campaign this year began at midnight Wednesday night.In the 24 hours that followed there were four accidents, including two involving drinking and driving, according to statistics released today by the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket…
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Phuket Opinion: Let Songkran sanity prevail
PHUKET: As this edition arrives at newsstands across the island, readers can judge for themselves whether the Royal Thai Police are adequately enforcing the controversial nationwide ban on using pickups and other conveyances to fuel roadside water fights over the Songkran holidays.We sincerely hope that the ban will have a significant impact on the number of deaths and injuries related…
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Wolfpack torpedo the Phuket Cricket Group
PHUKET: The Wolfpack, led by Will Badger, deservedly lifted the Kata Group International Cricket 7’s Cup yesterday afternoon at the Alan Cooke Ground (ACG), after overcoming local side Phuket Cricket Group (PCG) in the final. The PCG had earlier defeated both Wolfpack and the CBB’s in two exhilarating finishes, but they had no answer to the batting of ‘Player of…
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