Phuket News
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Phuket Sports: Drama galore in Fair Play League finals
PHUKET: The Phuket Fair Play League 2012 reached a dramatic conclusion to the season at Youth Football Home (YFH) in Thalang after eight weeks of competitive matches. Players in U14 and U11 divisions from all over the island showed skill and sportsmanship throughout this latest season proving the value and title of this competition. As with all hotly contested tournaments,…
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Phuket Sports: TSLC take Division One title
PHUKET: Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club (TSLC) hosted another action filled evening of the Adult Futsal League on Thursday with one Premier Division match and two First Division games on the card. Honda’s season didn’t improve suffering a 6-0 drubbing at the hands of league leaders Portrait FC. Pace and clinical finishing were the difference between the two sides, leaving…
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Phuket sea gypsies mob Thai PM, plead for rights
PHUKET: Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra arrived at Phuket Airport this morning to be greeted by some 2,000 people protesting the need to protect their land usage rights and preserve traditional livelihoods. The protesters, who collectively call themselves “PMOVE” (short for “Peoples’ Movement”), comprise sea gypsies and members of other landless communities from across the country. In addition to the many…
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Phuket Sports: Super Six league heats up
PHUKET: Super Six League’s latest round of matches at Headstart International School’s Football Island kicked off with a top of the table battle between Phuket Serenity Villas (PSV) and Morning Star. Both teams attempted to gain control of the game from the outset, but Morning Star proved the more inventive in attack and had a four goal advantage going into…
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Coastal development destroying reefs off Phuket
– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Coastal development destroying reefs off Phuket PHUKET (The Nation): Massive land development in Phuket province will be strictly controlled by environmental regulations after findings that large amounts of sediment caused by construction has destroyed a large area of coral reefs and marine ecosystems. Over 250 square kilometers of coral…
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Man fights for life after Phuket motorbike crash
PHUKET: A man is in critical condition after his motorbike was hit by a car at a u-turn on Thepkrasattri Road in Phuket early yesterday morning. Thalang Police were notified of the accident just after midnight. Arriving at the scene, the northbound lane of Thepkrasattri road about one kilometer south of the new Tesco Thalang shopping mall, they found Apichet…
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Owner confesses to working elephant to death, mutilating carcass
PHUKET: The owner of the elephant found mutilated in Krabi on Thursday has confessed to working the animal to death. Local villagers had discovered the gruesome remains, now identified as that of 49-year-old elephant Plai Boonam. The front of the head had been hacked off and the elephant’s tusk was missing. In response, Krabi Muang District Chief Yutisak Akeakkara and…
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Finnish tourist behind bars after Phi Phi pub row
PHUKET: A Finnish tourist is being held at Krabi Provincial Prison pending charges of causing bodily harm after he allegedly struck a female bar manager over the head with a beer bottle just south of Phuket on Phi Phi Island.Ms Saen Chinno (originally reported as “Jeen-no”), the 29-year-old manager of Breakers Bar on Phi Phi Island, suffered a serious head…
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Phuket baby elephant probe hinges on DNA maternity tests
PHUKET: Officers who led the raids on three elephant camps in Phuket late last month are back on the island to continue their investigation into whether all the elephants at all three camps were legally obtained. The investigation focuses on three camps: the ATV @ Hill Adventure Tour camp on the road to the Big Buddha image in Chalong; the…
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Phuket Customs seizes Bt20mn in illegal diesel
PHUKET: Phuket custom officials have raided a Malaysian ship and seized about 100,000 liters of illegally imported diesel fuel near Koh Racha Noi. The fuel on the Singa Maju, estimated to be worth more than 20 million baht, was being sold to fishing ships in the area. Following a tip off, customs officials, led by Rakop Srisupaat, Chief of the…
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FC Phuket set sail for season opener
FC Phuket’s roller coaster end to last season will take a back seat today as they lock themselves in for a nosedive into their 2012-2013 Thai Premier League (TPL) season against JW Rangsit.Their season opener will be played at the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy Stadium in Nakhon Nayok, Pathum Thani with kickoff at 4pm.It will certainly be an interesting encounter…
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Phuket sets heavy security for PM Yingluck Cabinet visit
PHUKET: Phuket will be under a high-level security crackdown ahead of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s visit for the Cabinet meeting on Monday and Tuesday. The news came at a meeting of Royal Thai Armed Forces intelligence staff with Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha at Phuket Provincial Hall. Also at the meeting to discuss the security plan were Phuket Provincial Police Commander…
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Phuket bus crash victims all safe
Pic 1: Patong Hill Bus crashCUT400 PHUKET: Wichean Tungjit, the 25-year-old Phuket tuk-tuk driver involved in this morning’s bus crash on Patong Hill, was diagnosed by doctors as having a mild concussion, but not a fractured skull, as was originally feared. Mr Wichean was among the 10 people rushed to Patong Hospital after the accident, which happened at about 6:50am.…
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Phuket Gazette: Elephant butchered in Krabi
PHUKET: Livestock officials in Krabi are investigating the death of a male elephant found partially decapitated on a remote hilltop rubber plantation in Khao Khraam District yesterday afternoon, the Phuket Gazette has learned. The discovery of the carcass was reported to the Gazette by Khao Khram tambon chief Karim Laklaeng at about 2pm yesterday. [Reader discretion advised. Some readers may…
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Phuket MICE tourists in Patong bus crash
PHUKET: Another bus full of passengers in Phuket, this time for a seminar, crashed into a house at the bottom of Patong Hill this morning. Nine of the passengers were taken to Patong Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. Lt Thanakrit Kiawyai of Patong Police told the Phuket Gazette that the accident happened at about 6:50am. “The bus had about…
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Phuket Land Office voices support for corruption probe
PHUKET: The chief of the Phuket Land Department has voiced support for the ongoing investigation into allegations that corrupt government officials colluded with private investors to have land title deeds issued on state land. “The investigation by the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission [PACC] into illegally-issued land documents in Phuket will serve as a deterrent to other people who might be…
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Phuket drug duo arrest lands Bt1mn haul
PHUKET: Phuket Police arrested a husband and wife who they say were found in possession of drugs with an estimated street value of more than one million baht. Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha announced the arrests at Phuket City Hall today, adding that a total of seven people were arrested in two separate police operations during the past week. At the…
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Myanmar rushes headlong into brave new world
SPECIAL REPORTPHUKET: The Japanese salary-man’s blue suit brushed past the backpacker’s Bob Marley t-shirt as they passed in the guest house hallway.“No rooms. Fully booked,” said the desk clerk.The Japanese man was on his way to shore up a lease on a garment factory and the Irish backpacker was here in Myanmar to see the wonders of Inle Lake and…
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Phuket Heroines brought to life in Battle of Thalang
PHUKET: A large crowd attended last night’s highly-stylized re-enactment of the Battle of Thalang in Phuket last night. Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha chaired the opening ceremony for the event, which got underway at 7:30pm at Thalang Victory Memorial Field. Gov Tri played the part of Rama I, while his deputy Chamroen Tipayapongtada played his arch-enemy, the commander of the Burmese…
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Phuket free of bird flu, but taking no chances
PHUKET: Phuket has not had a recorded single case of H5N1 bird flu in five years, but public health workers are still training to recognize and fight the dreaded virus in the case of any future outbreaks. More than 100 public health workers and volunteers yesterday attended a “Bird Flu Prevention 2012” training seminar at Vachira Phuket Hospital. The stated…
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US Consular Outreach in Phuket
PHUKET: The American Citizen Services section of the United States Embassy in Bangkok will be at the Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort in Karon on Thursday morning as part of its “consular outreach” service. Consular staff will be available to provide following services from 8am until noon: • Passport renewal applications • Notarial services • Embassy registration and/or address change…
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Phuket Live Wire: Why True and CAT go out to lunch every three hours
PHUKET: This week I’m going back to answering questions. This first one surprised me, but I’ve had confirmation now from all over Thailand. It goes like this: “Woody, I have a new TrueMove-H “3G” account. The wireless service is directly connected into my PC, with a USB stick. I watch financial markets, so I’m online for extended periods of time.…
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Phuket Airport “black taxis’ given ultimatum
PHUKET: Phuket International Airport Director Prathuang Sornkham and Wantha Phummararossukontha, Assistant Director of Phuket Provincial Transport Office (PPTO), have warned illegal taxi drivers to obtain the correct license plate or face stiff fines. Mr Wantha said action was being taken as many passengers had complained of overcharging by “black plate” taxi drivers, and the concerns he had received from legitimate…
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Official corruption: PACC names Phuket “model province’
PHUKET: The ongoing probe into official corruption by government officials in allowing land title deeds to be issued on state land should shore up investor confidence, the Phuket governor says. Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha told the state-run MCOT news agency that the probe by the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) began in secrecy six or seven months ago in Phuket,…
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Phuket ready for ‘Battle of Thalang’ re-enactment tonight
PHUKET: In the run-up to the highly-anticipated re-enactment of the Battle of Thalang tonight, Phuket students and local leaders yesterday made offerings to a shrine dedicated to Phuket’s two heroines: Thao Thepkrasattri and Thao Srisoonthorn. Yesterday, members of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) and Phuket Rajabhat University (PKRU) joined local residents at a special shrine set up in the…
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Andaman Motor Show drives Phuket car sales
PHUKET: The 14th Andaman Motor Show currently under way at HomeWorks, opposite Central Festival Phuket on the bypass road, is enjoying one of its best years in car sales. The six-day event, this year under the theme “Summer on the Beach”, ends on Wednesday. “We don’t have final figures for the overall number of car loan applications yet, but I…
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Phuket lifeguards vow to “not let tourists down’
PHUKET: A re-run of last year’s beach safety scare has emerged following the Phuket Lifeguard Club warning that their contract will terminate on April 2, and that they have not received any official notification of what is to happen next. Phuket Lifeguard Club President Prathaiyut “Nut” Chuayuan today told the Phuket Gazette that he had received no information as to…
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Phuket to hand out souvenir shirts for Cabinet meeting
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Office will provide special “souvenir” shirts for Cabinet ministers and VIPs attending the Cabinet meeting in Phuket on March 19-20. Vice Governor Somkiat Sangkaosuttirak announced the decision to have souvenir shirts handed out at a meeting at Phuket City Hall last Thursday. The main points were the shirt style, color, pattern and the number of shirts…
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Students holidaying in Phuket survive Phang Nga crash
PHUKET: Five medical students on holiday in Phuket escaped with minor injuries when the car they were traveling in struck a tree in Phang Nga yesterday.Lt Eakkapop Phuthong of Takua Thung Police received a report at 5:30pm that a vehicle had overshot a curve on Takua Thung Road at Baan Kuan, Kok Kloy.“Sidan Hayeesamadae, a 25-year-old male, was driving four…
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Phuket sports: Practice makes perfect… almost
PHUKET: One of the shortest courses ever set was organized for the second race of the Ao Chalong Yacht Club (ACYC) Irish Times Race Series. From the Ao Makham safe water mark and back, with two short loops around the Ban Nit safe water mark – the total course length was only nine nautical miles. On Saturday, David Liddell from…
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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