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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Blaze guts Phuket Town home
PHUKET: It took five fire trucks about 40 minutes to extinguish a second-storey blaze in Phuket Town yesterday. Emergency services received a report of the house fire at 9:20am at number 44/2 on Patiphat Road. The second floor bedroom and prayer room in the two-storey house, named ‘Baan Thamrongpornsawat,’ were ablaze when firefighters arrived,” said Phuket City Police Lt Thaksin…
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Motorcyclist killed as CRV driver runs light
PHUKET: A motorcyclist was killed in Chalong on Saturday when a CRV driver ran a red light and crashed into him. CCTV footage from Chalong Municipality shows the CRV crashing into the motorbike at the T-junction in front of Baan Chalong School on Cha Fa West Road. The bike rider, Wattana Enkbuth, was thrown off and his head hit the…
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Phuket blood center needs AB supplies
PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center (PRBC) is holding blood donation sessions across Phuket throughout September to replenish blood stocks, especially AB blood types. Under the banner ‘Give Blood to Fellowmen’, the September blood donation drive is in honor of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit’s 84th birthday anniversary and His Majesty the King’s 70th anniversary of his accession to the throne.…
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Train bombing may derail peace talks
THAILAND: Thais in the deep South continue to endure regular violent attacks, despite ongoing peace talks in Malaysia. Trains operating in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat have been suspended for 10 days after another bomb exploded on the railway line on Friday. The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) ordered the temporary suspension of train services to the three southernmost provinces in…
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Prime Minister to visit Phuket this month
PHUKET: Prime Minister Gen Prayuth Chan-o-cha is to visit Phuket on September 16 for the regional launch of a new nationwide initiative aimed at helping budding local businesses get off the ground and into the international arena of digital commerce. The Startup Thailand 2016 campaign was launched by the prime minister in Bangkok in April as a joint government and…
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2,700 tonnes of frozen fish moved off detained vessel
PHUKET: Officials from Department of Fisheries are removing about 2,700 tonnes of frozen tuna from two fishing vessels that were detained under suspicion of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing seven months ago. The fish will be transferred from the Deep Sea Port, where the vessels are located, to cold storage at the Fish Marketing Organization in Rassada. The transfer…
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American woman falls off cliff while fleeing assaulter
PHUKET: An American tourist fell into a crevice off a 45-meter-high cliff at Railay Bay, Krabi while trying to save herself from sexual assault late Thursday night. The suspect, named Apai Ruangwong, 28, admitted to the attempted assault when police questioned him. He was also the one who notified the authorities for help. The 23-year-old woman, whose name is being…
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Medical schools join forensic probe into land suspect’s death
PHUKET: Forensic teams from medical schools have joined the investigation into the mysterious death of a former land department official – a major suspect in an illegal land-title registration case – while in police custody. Justice Minister General Paiboon Koomchaya said yesterday that to ensure transparency in the case, forensic teams from Chulalongkorn University, Ramathibodi Medical School, and Siriraj Medical…
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Island View: Retail Goliaths killing the local community
PHUKET: Unemployment in Thailand is practically zero. The official unemployment rate is around the one per cent mark. Compare that to somewhere like the UK where unemployment figures over the past decade have fluctuated wildly between 12 and seven per cent, and one has to ask why a developed nation has an unemployment problem with millions dependent on government handouts.…
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Municipality springs to action as social media complaint goes viral
PHUKET: A Phuket woman turned to social media for help after her complaints about an injury from a hanging wire allegedly went unheeded. Facebook user Fern A Romdee shared her complaints on a public Facebook group on Wednesday. She said the incident occurred as she was driving past Supercheap at Naka market. “At about 7pm on August 31, I was…
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New e-payment service aims to ease fund transfers
PHUKET: A new payment method designed to ease bank transfers, backed by the central bank of Thailand, was announced at a press conference held in Phuket last week. Saowapa Limsila, chief of the Phuket Office of the Comptroller General, and Jongrak Angtanya, vice president of the ‘Phuket Bankers Club’, jointly chaired the meeting held at Phuket Provincial Hall. The new…
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Tranlee assets go up for auction
PHUKET: More than 150 assets of the embattled Tranlee Travel Co are to be auctioned off on September 6, Phuket’s Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) announced yesterday. The assets – 33 boats, 57 buses, parcels of land and millions of baht – were seized after investigators declared that the Phuket-based tour operator had been established illegally (story here). AMLO Secretary General…
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Ministry of Farang Affairs: Attracting the worst people
The Ministry of Farang Affairs is a one-stop shop where foreigners in Thailand can learn all they need to know about living here. No, we’re not talking about work permits, visas or taxes. We’re talking about day-to-day life in the Land of Endless Shocks and Riddles, of Blur, Befuddlement and the Bizarre. Stay tuned for weekly insights from Minister Stephff.…
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Darasamuth Underpass southbound lane closed
PHUKET: The southbound lanes of the Darasamuth Underpass have been temporarily closed and the traffic light system shut down. “We found out about a problem with the lane indicators this afternoon so we shut down the lanes to prevent any confusion that could lead to accidents,” Patiwetwottisak Sookhii, director of the Phuket Highways Office, told the Phuket Gazette this afternoon.…
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Three foreign tour guides arrested
PHUKET: Three foreign nationals were arrested for working illegally as tour guides in Phuket yesterday. The arrests were made by a team of provincial officials on the lookout for illegal workers at the Asia Marina in Rassada. “The team spotted the three men working as guides for Chinese tourists at about 10am,” said Phuket Vice Governor Prajiad Aksornthammakul. The suspects…
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Volunteer diver hospitalized after being run over by speedboat
PHUKET: The driver of a speedboat is still at large, after running over a volunteer diver picking up trash yesterday. The diver, a fourth year student at Phuket’s Rajabhat University, is undergoing treatment at Vachira Phuket Hospital after having her right thumb amputated. Thirty-one year-old Patcharin Phetlorian was diving with fellow volunteers of the Phang Nga Provincial Natural Resource and…
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DDPM warns of flash flooding, landslides on Thepkrasattri
PHUKET: The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) has warned that parts of Thepkrasattri Road are threatened by landslides and flash floods in the coming few days. In an official letter signed by Phuket Vice Governor Chokdee Amornwat yesterday, the DDPM told local government offices to prepare for landslides and flash flooding along the main route through Phuket. The…
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Koh Kaew construction delayed due to ‘mistake’
PHUKET: Construction work to widen a waterway and build a retaining wall along Soi Koh Kaew 33, behind the Isuzu showroom on Thepkrasattri Road, has been delayed due to a “mistake” in the setting the wall’s pilings. The 8.4-million-baht project to build a three-meter-high retaining wall along a 500 meter stretch of roadside was initially scheduled to be completed by…
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“Suicide’ of Land Department official now called into question
PHUKET: The autopsy on a former land department official who allegedly hanged himself in custody yesterday revealed that the man suffered an injured liver and internal bleeding, his brother said this afternoon. Tawatchai Anukul, a retired senior official of the Phang Nga Provincial Land Department, was found dead inside a detention room at the Department of Special Investigation yesterday (story…
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Landslide forces airport road closure
PHUKET: Motorists are being warned to stay off the small road that runs parallel to the runway at Phuket International Airport following a landslide. The slide occurred near the air traffic control tower and Aeronautical Radio of Thailand office there. “Continuous rain over the past few days loosened the earth on the 141-meter-tall hill (Khao Bo Sai) next to the…
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Public outcry stops demolition of Vachira Hospital buildings
PHUKET: Vachira Hospital administrators have reached an agreement with concerned community members and employees over the proposed demolition of historic 100-year-old buildings and their surrounding mahogany trees. The plans to demolish the existing structures in order to make way for a new 298-bed hospital wing were halted after a public outcry from doctors and community members reached a fever pitch…
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Police blame Russian for theft of B3mn in ATM hacks
PHUKET: Police have asked for an international arrest warrant for a Russian national believed to be involved in the theft of more than 12 million baht from ATMs across Thailand, including Phuket. Chief investigator Panya Mamen said Rustam Shambasov, 29, was caught on surveillance video footage after stealing more than 3 million baht from over a dozen ATMs last month.…
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Phuket Town fruit vendors fed up with theft
PHUKET: Fruit vendors in Phuket Town are fed up with fruit from their stalls being stolen overnight and the lack of progress in apprehending the culprits, despite giving police CCTV footage showing teenagers pilfering the produce. Vipharat Na Kling, who owns one of the stalls along Srisana Road, said the thefts have cost her thousands of baht. “I reported the…
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Pick-up slams into pole, splits in half
PHUKET: Police have charged a woman with reckless driving and damage to public property after she lost control of the truck she was trying to drive and slammed into a power pole yesterday. The driver, Pavalee Khamleang, 27, and her Indonesian passenger were injured in the accident. Ms Pavalee sustained injuries to her neck and back. The passenger, Tranggielia Lokon…
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Police: Europeans behind nationwide ATM scam
PHUKET: Royal Thai Police believe a group of thieves that have so far stolen more than 12 million baht from ATMs around the country to be Europeans based in Phuket. Police believe that an ATM located in Wichit was used to perpetrate the nationwide fraud. Royal Thai Police’s General Panya Maman briefed reporters on the extent of the losses while…
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Biz Chat: The significance of ‘price’ in marketing
PHUKET: The second element of the ‘4 Ps’ of marketing is price. Price is what your customer pays you in exchange for goods and services received by them. There are many aspects to this deceptively simple element. In setting your price, you must first decide what is the value of the product or service to the buyer. If you set…
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Opinion: Promoting sporting events in Phuket
PHUKET: Sirawee Waloh, originally a native of Pattani, was appointed as the new director of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports Phuket Office (MOTS) on July 25, 2016. She had previously been working as a human resource developer and nurse at Pattani Provincial Public Health Office for 18 years. She is a graduate of the College of Nursing, Songkhla. Here,…
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Foreign suspects celebrated for rape, theft, debt default and smuggling
PHUKET: Seven foreign suspects were rounded up on charges of rape, tax fraud, smuggling and defaulting on debts last week in Phuket, Pattaya, Songkhla and Bangkok. The seven were then celebrated in a parade in front of the media at the Immigration Bureau in Bangkok yesterday. Three of the suspects were Chinese nationals: Wang Jianlan, 31; Zhang Jingjing, 30; and…
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Rise in Phuket’s troubled teens
PHUKET: The director of the Phuket Juvenile Observation and Protection Center (JOPC) said she believes teenagers across Phuket are becoming more aggressive. Rawee Kuhamooka told the Phuket Gazette that every year JOPC staff have to work harder to control their detainees. Ms Rawee’s comments come after a riot at the center earlier this month left the building’s grounds, cafeteria, therapy…
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Burmese busted selling hot phones
PHUKET: Police arrested a Burmese national at Central Festival shopping mall yesterday afternoon when he attempted to sell phones he had stolen from a shop in Karon to undercover police officers. Police cornered Moe Win Ko, 21, at the mall after tracking him down using CCTV footage that had captured him stealing 13 mobile devices from the Olay Phone store…
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