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Phuket Governor transfer rumors “unconfirmed’
PHUKET: The Governor’s Office today said they could neither confirm nor deny rumors that Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha will be transferred out of the province this month. “Our office has yet to be informed of any transfer orders regarding the governor or his deputies,” Manas Nurak, personal secretary to Governor Tri, told the Phuket Gazette. “The central government in Bangkok…
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Dutch tourist slashed by deranged vagrant in Krabi
PHUKET: A Dutch tourist is recovering from neck lacerations sustained in a knife attack by a homeless drifter in front of a McDonald’s outlet in Krabi. Krabi Police raced to the scene at Ao Nang Beach yesterday morning. When they arrived shortly after 11am they found 29-year-old Dutch tourist Reiner Fleaf lying on the sidewalk in a pool of his…
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Weird World News: The Superhero of Seattle, Moss Man and Superman fan in high jinks
PHUKET: Superheroes and villains made headlines around the world this week in bizarre, botched and bone-headed acts of super silly proportions. Masked ‘superhero of Seattle’ arrested for assault IN SEATTLE, Washington, they really do have a superhero watching over the city at night. But there’s just one problem: He was arrested this week for assault. The “superhero of Seattle”, also…
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Phuket woman takes life by hanging
PHUKET: In the second suicide by hanging in Phuket in three days, the body of a local woman was found suspended by the neck from a tree near her home in Thalang this morning. Tah Chat Chai Police were notified of a suicide on Soi Nai Yang 3, opposite Wat Nai Yang in Sakoo, at about dawn today. When they…
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Landslide on Phuket bypass road causes serious damage
PHUKET: Another landslide on the bypass road last night caused over one million baht in damage to stock at the Adisak Trading Company warehouse in Phuket, which was due to be cleared of stock today. Warehouse chief clerk Natthaphum Ongsala, 28, said the landslide breached the warehouse roof and wall, destroying a wide range of stock including buckets of thinner,…
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Phuket Prison warden hangs himself
PHUKET: A guilt-ridden warden at Phuket Provincial Prison took his life by hanging yesterday evening. Phuket Prison chief Rapin Nichanon identified the deceased as 52-year-old Suwit Srisangthong, who lived in a home for government workers on the prison grounds. When friends went to wake Mr Suwit for work yesterday morning, they found him hanging by the neck from a ceiling…
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Phuket Blues Fest moves to Laguna
PHUKET: The Phuket International Blues Rock Festival this year will be held at Laguna Phuket for the first time in the event’s seven-year history. “With 1,300 hotel rooms and a large expat village in the immediate neighborhood, as well as easy access from anywhere in the north of the island, Laguna is the perfect place to stage such an event,”…
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Phuket rains rip another tear in Patong Hill road
PHUKET: Officers from Patong Municipality’s Engineering Division today patched yet another section of the road over Patong Hill, this time on the left-hand eastbound lane for traffic heading toward Phuket Town. The section of freshly damaged road lies about 200 meters west of the Chao Pho Seua Shrine (Tiger Temple) at the top of the hill. “We noticed the damage…
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Phuket boy, 9, tops EU contest
PHUKET: A nine-year-old Phuket student was yesterday honored with a personal visit from David Lipman, the Head of the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Thailand. The occasion was to mark young Suthipat Suwanrathpum being selected as one of the 14 winners in a drawing competition held by EuropeAid to highlight gender equality. The drawing by Suthipat, also known…
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Phuket firestarter bamboozles police
PHUKET: The cause of a fire in an uninhabited Phuket shop-house this morning remains unknown, with police saying it was not a short circuit. No one was injured in the fire. The blaze started at about 8:30am on the second floor of a two-storey shophouse in Thalang – about 100 meters from the Heroines’ Monument towards Pa Khlok. The second…
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Phuket prisoners plunge into fight against floods
PHUKET: Inmates at Phuket Provincial Prison were dispatched to Thalang over the past two days to clear canals of overgrowth and to improve drainage in flood-affected areas of Pa Khlok. Armed with sickles and under close observation by prison wardens, more than 30 inmates with ‘good behavior’ records took part in the operation, which helped ease the suffering of residents…
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Major earthquake strikes off Bali; Australian brain damaged by toxic cocktail on Bali holiday
PHUKET NEWS HOUND – Regional News selected by Phuket Gazette editors for Phuket readers Strong earthquake strikes off Bali, Indonesia Phuket Gazette A strong earthquake struck off the Indonesian island of Bali a few minutes ago, seismologists said, but no tsunami warnings were issued. The 6.8-magnitude earthquake at 11:16am local Bali time (10:16 Phuket time) was centered about 143 kilometers…
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Phuket meth users hooked by cosmetic claims
PHUKET: Crystal meth dealers in Phuket are attracting new users by claiming the drug has cosmetic benefits. Doctors say that although the stimulant may cause some changes in a user’s physical appearance, it is far from the desired effect. Concerned about a rise in the use of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine) in Phuket and nearby provinces, police and health officials…
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Iranian Actress sentenced to 90 lashes for role in Australian film
Phuket NEWS Hound – World news selected by Phuket Gazette editors for Phuket’s international communitySydney Morning Herald An Iranian actress has been sentenced to one year in prison and 90 lashes for her role in an Australian film, media reports said on Tuesday, days after a student activist was lashed 74 times for insulting the country’s president. Marzieh Vafamehr was…
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Rains, landslides cause B100mn in damage to Phuket roads
PHUKET: The ongoing downpours that continue to plague the island have caused 100 million baht in damage to Phuket roads, Governor Tri Augkaradacha revealed today. The news came as Governor Tri today ordered Phuket’s three District Chiefs to take precautionary measures to protect people in their respective areas from floods and landslides. “Because of the floods and landslides that have…
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Phuket to stage “World Musiq Festival’
PHUKET: Phuket will stage a “World Musiq Festival” at Saphan Hin in Phuket Town from December 2 to 5 to honor the 84th birthday of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej on December 5. Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha chaired a meeting at Provincial Hall yesterday to discuss the basic details of the event. Present at the meeting were Phuket Provincial Administration Organization…
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Phuket gets ready for the Banana Walk
PHUKET: Patong Beach Hotel Ltd – owners of the Patong Beach Hotel and Banana Disco – today announced the opening of a “new-lifestyle” shopping center in Patong, on Phuket’s west coast. The news follows the developer breaking ground last week for the Banana Walk shopping mall, scheduled to open in May next year. The complex will be located along Thaweewong…
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Training tips for the Phuket Triathlon
PHUKET: For most triathletes swimming seems to be the most demanding technical aspect of the three disciplines. I remember my first triathlon. I was very nervous about the swim start, about being in the open water and I was not sure how to manage swimming in a straight line. It took a while to become an experienced open water swimmer.…
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Illegal dam bursts, mudslide hits Phuket housing estate
PHUKET: Continuing rains across Phuket last night caused a mudslide that forced the evacuation of a residential estate in Rassada. There was considerable property damage, but no injuries were reported. After another night of heavy rain, the mudslide hit the Baan Natkamon estate at about 3am. The first home inundated with flowing mud was that of Opas Chupan, whose unit…
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Phuket Gazette’s Top Sporting Tips: Tennis
PHUKET: This week’s tennis tip about the serve comes courtsey of Travis Bertram who is the Tennis Director for Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club, Phuket. The serve is one of the most important shots in tennis, if not the most important. There are two major checkpoints to look for or be aware of on the serve, the wrist and balance…
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Swedish expat dies on notorious Phuket coastal road
PHUKET: A Swedish expat who ran a Phuket guesthouse died on Saturday in a motorbike accident in Karon on Saturday. Patong Police received a report that a “tourist” crashed his motorcycle and died on Patak Road in Karon early Saturday morning. Peter Nyman, 48, died when he overshot a curve on his motorcycle in heavy rain and struck a power…
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Phuket landslide update: Ongoing concern over road stability
PHUKET: One westbound lane of the road over Patong Hill will remain closed to traffic indefinitely as authorities survey the damage of a recent landslide and draw up plans to stabilize the slope before the situation worsens. Phuket Provincial Highways Office chief Arun Sanae today told the Phuket Gazette, “We are now co-ordinating with Kathu and Patong municipalities to fix…
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Phuket Police to send body of fallen tourist to Bangkok
PHUKET: Police will send the body of an Australian tourist to Bangkok for forensic examination in order to rule out any foul play in his fatal fall from a Phuket balcony over the weekend. Friends of the late Dean McKeon were questioned by Patong Police today about the events leading up to the discovery of his body in the car…
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Phuket Poll: Is B60mn “musical fountain’ worth it?
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) recently launched its 60-million-baht “musical fountain”, purported to be the largest of its kind in Thailand. At the opening of the fountain last month, OrBorJor President Paiboon Upatising said it was destined to become a must-see attraction that will draw tourists to Phuket, particularly Saphan Hin, and showcase Phuket’s unique history and culture.…
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Mystery surrounds Aussie death plunge in Phuket
PHUKET: An Australian tourist on holiday in Phuket died over the weekend after falling off a hotel balcony in Patong. It is believed he was sleepwalking at the time. The story broke in the Thai press by Manager Online news site, which identified the deceased as 33-year-old Dean William McKeon. The site also posted graphic images of the late Mr…
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Thailand Floods: A Phuket view of the damage in a nutshell
PHUKET: Severe flooding has wreaked havoc and caused enormous damage across Thailand. Although Phuket is not among the 28 provinces currently on the radar of the national government’s new flood crisis ‘War Room’, monsoon rains are an ongoing threat here, despite the hiatus so far today. The damage nationally: 30 provinces in all regions except the South (where Phuket lies)…
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Phuket Opinion: Signs of progress against roadside pollution
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette fully supports the long-overdue effort by the Phuket Highways Office to remove billboards and other unsightly advertising signage from roadsides under its authority, and we would encourage the local Department of Rural Roads and other agencies with similar authority to follow suit as soon as possible. If there is another “tropical island paradise” with roadsides that…
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Construction worker drowns in Phuket klong
PHUKET: A construction worker trying to catch fish drowned in a fast-moving klong in Phuket’s Thalang District this afternoon. Thalang Police identified the deceased as 51-year-old Sawai Suksabai, a resident of Sukhothai province. Police were notified of the drowning by the victim’s friend, Soonthorn Nopsawan. The two men set out with a net to trap fish in the swollen waters…
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Special report: Phuket foreigners losing homes to con men
PHUKET: Phuket homeowners are a prime target for regional fraud gangs that leave their “marks” heartbroken and penniless, with wives of wealthy foreigners often falling victim. Reports of people being cheated out of tens of millions of baht in such scams are rife on the island, but the victims are often too ashamed to come forward to warn others. Under…
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Phuket crash uproots tree, two slightly injured
PHUKET: Two people were injured in Phuket this afternoon when the driver of a pickup truck lost control on the bypass road, hit a tree on the median strip and collided with a sedan heading in the opposite direction. The accident occurred at about 2pm on the stretch of the bypass road in front of the Premium Outlet Mall in…
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