Phuket News
Phuket news, politics, business, tourism, and nightlife—stay updated with breaking stories, events, and expat updates from Thailand’s top island destination. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Phuket news source.
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Fears rise over potential dengue outbreak
PHUKET CITY: A nine-year-old boy is suspected of becoming the latest victim of dengue fever in Phuket. If the disease is confirmed, he will be the third person in Phuket killed by the disease this year.The boy, Aniwat Madtai, lived in Koh Kaew and died at Vachira Phuket Hospital August 4.The tests to determine if dengue hemorrhagic fever was the…
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Juvenile Court cases jump 11%
PHUKET: Figures released by the Phuket Juvenile Observation and Protection Center show that delinquents committed 364 crimes from January 1 to July 31 this year – an increase of 11% on the overall juvenile crime rate for 2006.Eighty-two of the cases involved inhalant abuse, such as huffing rubber cement or glue. Most inhalant-abuse cases involved boys aged 15 to 18.Of…
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Phuket enjoys strong tourist “low-season’
PHUKET: This year’s green season has seen a healthy increase in the number of holidaymakers visiting Phuket, said Suwalai Pinpradab, director of Tourism Authority of Thailand’s (TAT) Southern Region 4 Office.Hotel occupancy rates are reportedly about 80%, marking a 20% to 30% increase on last year, with Patong being one of the busiest places on the island, according to TAT…
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OrBorJor launches express van service at Phuket airport
PHUKET (Nation): The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) today launched a shuttle van service between Phuket International Airport and downtown Phuket City.Phuket Vice-Governor Tri Augkaradacha chaired the launch ceremony of the service, operated by the Phuket Vehicle Service Cooperative.V/Gov Tri said the van service was launched following tourists’ complaints that existing bus services were slow and often delayed as bus…
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Police raid tea shop, hookahs seized
PHUKET CITY: During a raid of the Khiew-Tong cafe on Thalang Rd yesterday evening, police found 16 minors smoking flavored tobacco through a hookah.The 10 males and six females, all under 18, were arrested and later released to their parents. The shop owner, Phuket native Veerasak Abdulla, 49, was charged with aiding or abetting a minor to engage in wrongful…
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Man hangs self in “Burmese cemetery’
RASSADA: Volunteer rescue workers early yesterday evening recovered the body of an unidentified man, believed to be Burmese, hanging by the neck from a tree in a mangrove forest off Soi Honsaitong, near the fishing port.The body was discovered by a man looking for shellfish in the area, about 100 meters off Soi Kobkulnusorn, Lt Maj Keerati Triwai of Phuket…
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Student shot dead with pen-gun
PHUKET: A birthday party at a restaurant near Soi Pisanu in Village 1, Wichit, turned deadly in the early hours of Sunday, when an 18-year-old girl was shot dead during a petty squabble.Phuket Deputy Police Commander Col Chalit Tinthanee told reporters that Jutarat Naksri, a student at Phuket Technology College, had been out drinking at the restaurant to celebrate a…
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Man charged with strangling mother-in-law
CHERNG TALAY: A man has confessed to strangling his mother-in-law after she chastised him for being lazy.Neighbors of Srila Kanchorn, 52, a native of Phayao, found her body lying face-up in a coconut plantation in Baan Pasak about 9 am yesterday. She was dressed in a yellow shirt and light blue sports pants.Cherng Talay Police Investigation Inspector Lt Col Jetsada…
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Call for more organ donors
PHUKET: Senior figures of the Phuket chapter of the Thai Red Cross Society and Patong Hospital on August 3 called for more people to sign up as organ donors. The announcement was made at the “Organ and Blood Donations Devote Life to Mother and Nations” blood donation drive at Jungceylon, where in five hours 94 people donated blood that will…
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Drug crimes still high
PHUKET: There were 46 ya bah (methamphetamine) arrests in July with a total of 1,119 pills seized. Drug-related crimes accounted for 107 arrests over the month, almost double the number recorded in July 2006, according to figures released by Phuket Provincial Police.Twenty-five people were arrested for the use of cannabis, with 106 kilograms confiscated. There were 18 arrests for inhalant…
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Three murder victims wash up
PHUKET: Police recovered the bodies of three men last week, the victims of apparently unrelated murders and all assumed to have been Burmese laborers. The first body was discovered at about 7 am on July 29 at the port area in Rassada. The victim, dressed in a blue shirt and blue Chinese-style trousers, had a large stab wound to the…
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TDA teaches sea gypsies to dive
RAWAI: Twenty villagers from Rawai’s sea gypsy community are taking part in a five-day dive course that kicked off with a ceremony Thursday morning presided over by Minister of Tourism and Sports Dr Suwit Yodmanee.The training, being held jointly by the Thai Diving Association (TDA) and the Phuket Office of Sports and Recreation Development, is intended to give the sea…
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Taiwanese businessman shot
WICHIT: The Taiwanese owner of a fish export business is fighting for his life at Phuket International Hospital after being shot by unknown assailants on Chao Fa West Rd yesterday morning.Phuket City Police Duty Inspector Pol Lt Sathid Noorid identified the victim as 48-year-old Hsueh Hsu Sheng, a resident of Baan Suan Thai housing estate off Chao Fa West Rd.Mr…
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Fisheries Office extends po trap amnesty
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Fisheries Office (PPFO) has given fishermen until August 28 to apply to continue using po traps, shallow-water fish traps made by stringing a net between stakes stuck in the seabed, although the traps have been outlawed since 1996. The announcement follows the passing of the July 29 deadline set by the PPFO for all total ban…
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Southern students visit Phuket
PHUKET: Eighty students from the violence-plagued Deep South were given a holiday in Phuket as Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Southern Region Offices 1, 3 and 4 joined forces to bring students from Songkhla, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat to see Phuket’s tourist attractions.The students, aged 7 to 9 years old, arrived in Phuket on a tour bus on Saturday as…
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“Nong Red’ slowly recovering
AO MAKHAM: The spinner dolphin that washed ashore at Karon Beach on July 1 is recovering slowly after a full month at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC), where she was taken for treatment of a severe respiratory infection and other ailments.PMBC Biologist Kongkiat Kittiwattanawong told the Gazette this afternoon that the dolphin, nicknamed Nong Red, has faced numerous health…
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Experts fear Jatukham fever may endanger dugongs
PHUKET (Gazette/Kom Chad Luek): Conservation experts fear that fierce competition in the promotion of Jatukham Ramathep amulets may have sparked renewed interesting in the hunting of dugong, whose teardrops are believed by some to have magical powers. Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) biologist Kanjana Adulyankosol told the Gazette that fears stemmed from promotional material used by one Jatukham seller coupled…
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Phuket businesses scoop top awards
PHUKET: Phuket’s hospitality industry received a major boost last week with the announcement that three prestigious awards had been won by local companies.Mom Tri’s Boathouse & Villa Royale in Kata was awarded Wine Spectator magazine’s Best of Award of Excellence for the second consecutive year, maintaining its status as the only establishment in Thailand to receive the coveted award.Wine Spectator‘s…
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Gov calls for mobile CCTV
PHUKET: At the Provincial Security Committee Meeting at the ST Hotel on Thursday, Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit called for the local police to look into setting up a “mobile CCTV” unit to roam Phuket’s streets.“I have seen this new technology on TV. It is used in England, where they use a mobile CCTV unit that drives everywhere and uses a…
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Tsunami false alarm in Krabi
KRABI (Nation): Seven disaster-warning towers in Krabi unexpectedly sounded an alarm simultaneously on Saturday evening, prompting frightened residents and tourists to run for higher ground in fear of a tsunami.Krabi disaster-prevention and mitigation officer Thalerngsak Phuwayanapong said he had been informed that the warning towers at Koh Phi Phi pier, Saladan, Koh Lanta, Koh Jam, Haad Yao, Laem Sak Bay…
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Bars asked for “no-alcohol’ weekend
PHUKET: Bars and retail outlets are being asked to refrain from selling alcohol on Sunday and Monday to honor Asarnha Bucha Day and Buddhist Lent Day, respectively.Natanit Phromthawee, an administrative officer of Kathu District Office, told the Gazette that her office had issued a formal request to that effect.“We can’t force anyone not to sell alcohol over the two holidays…
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Phuket ready for referendum
SAPHAN HIN: More than 1,000 people gathered at Saphan Hin this morning to promote Phuket’s participation in the forthcoming national referendum on the newly-drafted constitution, which will take place August 19.Phuket officials were joined by members of the public and representatives from each Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) wearing yellow T-shirts and carrying banners and flags in support of the referendum.…
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New Kathu police chief moves to improve Patong
PHUKET CITY: At his first Phuket Provincial Security Council meeting yesterday, new Kathu Police Superintendent Pol Col Grissak Songmoonnark told Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit that he had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Patong business leaders aimed at lifting the town’s image among tourists.Col Grissak, 46, said that he had invited representatives of various groups in Patong to attend…
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Call for Phuket tourism businesses to go “green’
PHUKET: A Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) seminar held at The Metropole hotel on Tuesday brought together academics and members of the tourism sector to discuss global warming effects in Phuket, where an estimated 344 million tonnes of greenhouse gases are produced every year, said Nisanat Sathirakul, deputy secretary general at the Office of Natural Resources and Environment Policy and…
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Registered population keeps rising
PHUKET: The island’s official population climbed by 2,146 to 323,660 from June 21 to July 20, but the figure still under-represents the number of Thais calling Phuket home – not including the number of expats and low-wage laborers from abroad who have migrated here in recent years.The rise is slightly lower than during the previous reporting period, when a gain…
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Tsunami evacuation drill “hit and miss’
PHUKET: Andaman Wave 007, the first regional testing of the 79 National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) tsunami warning towers along the Andaman Coast, was conducted at 9:45 this morning, with mixed results in Phuket.While impressive mock evacuation and emergency response drills were being staged for the media on the beach at the foot of Soi Bangla in Patong, residents in…
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Convention center proposals fail to hit pay dirt
PHUKET: Three firms have proposed sites for Phuket’s International Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC), but none afford the sea views that have long been considered a ‘must’ for the project.Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit, who heads a committee formed to make a final decision on where to site the project, yesterday afternoon heard the proposals at a meeting at Phuket Provincial…
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Tsunami evacuation drills tomorrow
PHUKET: All residents of coastal areas should be reminded that the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) tomorrow morning will conduct the first full-scale regional testing of its 79 tsunami warning sirens along the Andaman Coast, including 19 towers in Phuket. Evacuation drills in tsunami-risk areas will be conducted by local administrative bodies working together with district offices and members of…
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Somtam Express wins Phuket Raceweek
AO CHALONG: After four days of racing in and around Chalong Bay, Scott Duncanson’s Somtam Express has won the IRC 1 class in this year’s Phuket Raceweek regatta.Shifting winds played havoc with the start of the final race in the regatta yesterday and the fleet waited four hours for it to swing around to allow the race to start.Once underway,…
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Somtam Express extends lead in Phuket Raceweek
AO CHALONG: Scott Duncanson’s Somtam Express today secured yet another win to stretch their lead to five points in the IRC 1 class of the fourth annual Phuket Raceweek regatta being raced in and around Chalong Bay and the surrounding islands. Peter Ahern’s Yo! 2 finished three minutes behind Somtam Express on corrected time to hold onto second place overall…
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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