Northern Thailand News
Northern Thailand news, Chiang Mai news, business, tourism, and culture—stay updated with breaking stories, local events, and travel insights from Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Pai, and beyond. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Northern Thailand news source.
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Mae Sot immigration chief transferred after inmate escape
Following the escape of 2 inmates, the immigration chief in Tak’s Mae Sot district has been transferred while an investigation takes place. The 2 Uighur inmates escaped by using soap to corrode the iron cell bars. They rubbed dish soap on the cell bars routinely. Over time, the iron started to rust and they were able to break the bars.…
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Inmates escape from Thai prison using soap to rust the cell bars
2 Turkish inmates escaped from a Thailand prison in a daring, if not slippery, escape. Their main tool? Soap. They used soap to cover the bars of their cell in the Tak’s Mae Sot district. Over time, the soap caused the metal to rust and they were able to break the cell bars. Apparently, this isn’t their first cunning escape…
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Students at Naresuan University mark 1973 uprising with candlelit vigil
As tens of thousands of protesters gathered at Government House in Bangkok yesterday, students at Naresuan University in northern Thailand were commemorating a 1973 uprising with a candlelit vigil. The October 14, 1973 popular uprising, known as the “Day of Great Sorrow” was a defining moment in Thailand’s history, ending the ruling military dictatorship of the time and changing the…
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Residents in border areas accuse officials of lax control over Burmese drivers
Residents in the Mae Sot district of Tak province, bordering Myanmar, have criticised what they see as lax checking of Burmese truck drivers arriving from the Covid-hit neighbour next door. Concerned residents are calling for the Friendship Bridge to be temporarily closed in light of a surge in virus cases in Myanmar. The bridge, which spans the Moei River, connects…
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Khon Kaen school director accused of sexually abusing students
5 students in the north-eastern province of Khon Kaen are accusing the director of Ban Thung Mon School, in the district of Ban Phai, of sexual abuse. The girls have filed an official police complaint, with the assistance of Pawanamporn Thaewnon-ngiew, a teacher at the school. The Bangkok Post reports she accompanied them to the police station after they confided…
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Isaan governor orders investigation into 3 year old boy’s death
The governor of Isaan’s Kalasin province ordered an investigation into the death of a 3 year old boy. Relatives say the child died after falling out of bed. Medical examiners say the child’s forehead was swollen, eyes were bruised and arm was broken. The child’s family says the boy fell off the bed and then collapsed in the bathroom, but…
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Mobile testing units dispatched to Tak after Burmese drivers test positive
After 3 Burmese lorry drivers tested positive for Covid-19 in the northern province of Tak, officials have sent mobile testing units to the Mae Sot district to test around 4,000 Thais and Burmese in high-risk border areas. Mae Sot mayor, Thoetkiat Shinsoranan, says all residents are being told to stay home as much as possible. The Bangkok Post reports that…
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Man arrested for posing as air force pilot, conning woman out of 800,000 baht
A 44 year old man has been arrested in the northern province of Sukothai, after claiming to be a pilot with the Royal Thai Air Force and cheating his girlfriend out of 800,000 baht. Thai Residents reports that the man, named only as Prapol, denies all the charges against him. The victim, named only as Miss A, says she met…
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Mathayom student helps deliver baby on Mae Sot street
A Mathayom student helped deliver a baby boy after a woman went into labour while walking on a street in Tak’s Mae Sot district which borders Myanmar. The student, known as Buntorn, was walking home from school when she saw a woman in pain and people gathered around. Buntorn realised the woman was about to give birth and quickly got…
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Students at northeastern university accuse police of disrupting rally, harassment
Students at Maha Sarakham University, in the north-east of the country, are accusing the police of harassing them and attempting to disrupt a planned rally. The leader of a pro-democracy student group has taken to Facebook to point the finger at plain-clothes and uniformed officers who arrived at the university to carry out a search, and to remind organisers of…
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Man ran over by Bangkok-Ubon train in Nakhon Ratchasima province
A man has been run over by a Bangkok-Ubon Ratchathani train early this morning in the northeastern province of Korat, with rescuers saying his body was cut in half. Police rescue workers say they discovered the man’s mutilated body at around 2am about 200 metres from the Huay Thalaeng district railway station. Police say the man appears to be between…
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Market vendor returns home to honor promise to late mother after winning lottery
A market vendor in Trat province is returning home to “honour a promise to her late mother” after winning a 6 million baht first prize in the country’s state bi-monthly lottery draw (drawn on the 1st and 16th of each month). 49 year old Metta Pomchaiya went home to Sakon Nakhon during the country’s Covid-19 lockdown phase to make merit…
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Wife who wanted a divorce allegedly killed by husband in murder-suicide
A woman in the north-eastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima has allegedly been shot dead by her husband because she wanted a divorce. It’s alleged the man then turned the gun on himself, dying from a gunshot wound to the head. Police officers called to a property in the sub-district of Thephalai found the bodies of 46 year old Mongkhol Aksorn,…
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Teenagers allegedly fired guns into the air, stray bullet kills 16 year old girl
A 19 year old man faces charges of intent to murder for allegedly shooting and killing a teenage girl. The man told police he shot the gun in the sky and did not intend to harm anyone. The stray bullet went through the girl’s heart and also injured her friend. 16 year old Nutthicha Thanthaisong was riding home on a…
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8 Roi-et volunteers killed, 33 injured in bus crash at Nakhon Ratchasima
7 people have been killed and another 33 injured when a tour bus collided into the back of an 18 wheeler trailer truck in Nakhon Ratchasima early yesterday, on the way to Pattaya. The double decker was travelling on the Nakhon Ratchasima-Kabin Buri road in the Chaimongkhol subdistrict just before 4am Saturday morning when the incident happened. The truck and…
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More than 1,000 pigs killed in effort to contain spread of virus in Lampang
The outbreak of ‘porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome’ caused the Department of Livestock Development to order the slaying of pigs in several subdistricts of Mae Tha district in the northern Lampang province. The head of the department says it has been able to prevent the outbreak from spreading out of the declared areas due to the elimination order, but the…
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Border police find 160 kilograms of marijuana hidden in fertiliser sacks
Border police found 160 kilograms of compressed marijuana near an Isaan roadside. Police say they believe the marijuana was trafficked across the Mekong River. No suspects were found and no arrests were made, at this stage. Police suspect the marijuana was smuggled in on long tail boats from Laos to the Isaan province of Nakhon Phanom during the tropical storm…
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Veterinarian arrested for giving beauty treatments
Dogs with breast augmentation? Cats with face lifts? After customers reported some suspicious behaviour, a veterinarian in Sisaket province, in northeastern Thailand, has been arrested for giving cosmetic beauty treatments at a veterinary clinic in Phitsanulok, Central Thailand. The veterinarian, known as B, was allegedly giving botox and filler injections to customers despite not being licensed to do so. The…
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Heavy rain across the country this weekend – local forecasts
Heavy rain is expected across much of Thailand over the next few days, mostly as a result of the intensity of a tropical storm crossing into Vietnam today, ‘Noul’, from the South China Sea. The low pressure cell will help intensify the effects of the south west monsoon too. But the remnants of the storm won’t “slam” into Northern Thailand…
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Lottery winner had 8 winning tickets, a total windfall of 48 million baht
The winning number from yesterday’s bi-monthly Thai lottery was 244083 making instant millionaires out of some lucky Thais. A winning ticket receives 6 million baht. Other numbers are drawn with lower prizes in the elaborate, and highly popular, live broadcast of the drawing of the numbers. The winner of a massive 48 million baht – 8 winning tickets – is…
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Dengue fever rises up to 6,024 in 4 Isaan provinces
Dengue fever is spreading in Northeast Thailand with more than 6,000 cases and 4 deaths in the past 8 months. The cases were reported in the Isaan provinces Khon Kaen, Kalasin, Mahasarakham and Roi Et, according to the Office of Disease Prevention. The mosquito spread disease is also known as “bone break fever” because common symptoms include pain in muscles,…
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Khon Kaen footballers negative for Covid-19, will test a third time
51 football players and staff of the Khon Kaen United team all came out negative in a second Covid-19 test, according to the province’s governor. The 51 team members and staff were classified as “at risk” for the catching the virus after a Uzbek football player from the team Buriram United tested positive for Covid-19. The Khon Kaen players and…
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“Uzbek footballer is the only player infected” – Public Health Ministry
Sports officials insist all Thai League football matches would still be held despite the Uzbek Buriram United player testing positive for Covid-19 last Thursday. The President of Buriram United Football Club, Newin Chidchob, confirmed that there was only one Buriram United player infected with Covid-19. “He was asymptomatic and now under the care of physicians at a local hospital in…
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The footballer is positive, but not Thai – Public Health Department
A 29 year old Uzbekistani footballer has tested positive for Covid-19 in the days prior to the first Toyota Thai football league starting today. The entire participating 1,115 football players and staff of the Thai football league were required to conduct a Covid-19 test on Thursday this week before the first match which is scheduled for today. The positive result…
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‘Snake’ cave closed after visitors, looking for lottery numbers, graffiti the rocks
A cave known for its rocks resembling snakeskin is closed after some visitors vandalised the cave by rubbing the rock formations, hoping to find lucky lottery numbers. Other people wrote insulting graffiti on the rocks. The Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa ordered the immediate closure of the Phu Langka National Park’s Naga Cave until officials can come up with a plan…
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Family say car crash monk is battling mental health issues
Relatives of the monk behind a car crash that killed 1 person in the north-eastern province of Roi Et say he has been suffering with mental health problems. The monk crashed his car into a power pole at the weekend, killing his male passenger, 82 year old Noi Chuenchom, and causing serious injury to a 36 year old female passenger,…
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Ubon Ratchathani teacher charged with sexual abuse
An Isaan teacher is facing sexual harassment and abuse charges after he allegedly paid young students in exchange for sexual acts. The practice is being frequently reported in Thai media these days as the taboo of reporting these cases is slowly raised. The Ubon Ratchathani teacher allegedly sexually abused 5 boys, ages 11 to 12, on numerous occasions, paying them…
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2 Burmese nationals arrested while crossing river into Thailand
Border forces have arrested 2 Burmese nationals as they were crossing a river in the northern province of Chiang Rai in an attempt to enter Thailand. There has been an increase in security patrols along the border with Myanmar in recent weeks, as the country experiences a spike in Covid-19 cases. There have been reports of Burmese nationals attempting to…
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Man arrested for allegedly trafficking 112 million baht worth of drugs
Police arrested a 50 year old man for allegedly carrying 112 million baht worth of illegal drugs. Police searched his pickup truck at a Sakon Nakhon checkpoint in Northeast Thailand and found 75 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, methamphetamine pills and marijuana. The methamphetamine was separated into 1-kilogram packs. They also found 2,000 methamphetamine pill, known as speed, police say. The…
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Woman allegedly kills elderly stylist over bad haircut
A young woman was arrested yesterday after she allegedly killed an elderly hairstylist for giving her a bad haircut. Araya Sra-On is facing charges of intentional murder as well as robbery for allegedly stealing jewellery off the woman’s body after she’d allegedly murdered her. Police say Araya has admitted to killing 74 year old Banyat Kanthong at her shop in Phitsanulok,…
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