Phuket News
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Phuket yachts harried by spate of break-ins
PHUKET: A 20,000-baht reward is being offered but Phuket police are still at a loss as to who is committing the thefts from yachts anchored in Chalong Bay. An estimated 12 yachts have been broken into in the past month, with one yacht – the 20-million-baht S/Y Smoke – having suffered a reported US$6,000 in equipment losses. Roger Harris, the…
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Three girls saved from Phuket rip tide
PHUKET: Three teenage girls were spared the dangers of a strong rip tide at Nai Harn Beach yesterday afternoon. All three were on family trips to the beach, explained the mother of one of the girls. “We were waiting for our somtam on the shore while the three girls went swimming. “A few minutes later, I heard someone blowing a…
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Phuket police nab notorious “Junior’ gang
PHUKET: Police last night arrested six members of a teenage gang known for allegedly committing many robberies and often threatening to kill their victims if they did not co-operate. Known as the “Junior Gang”, the four teenage men and two teen women were charged with committing gang robbery and being in possession of unlicensed firearms. All six confessed to the…
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Work begins to make Phuket “death bend’ safer
PHUKET: Work is underway to make safer the deadly bend on the hill road to the Big Buddha. Suporn Vanitchakul, president of the Phra Phuttha Mingmongkol Foundation 45, explained that workmen on Monday began laying out markers and clearing the land. The private road will be broadened to 12 meters along a 100m stretch that includes the notorious bend, which…
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Phuket tourist forced to pay 180,000 baht in jet-ski repairs
PHUKET: A group of foreign tourists enjoying the Songkran festival in Phuket found out the hard way that the much maligned jet-ski insurance scheme doesn’t cover all repair costs if a jet-ski is badly damaged. After negotiations with police and the jet-ski owner, British national Nicola Ross Morton agreed to pay an astounding 180,000 baht for damages to a jet-ski…
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Phuket tourism industry rakes in B800mn over Songkran
PHUKET: The Phuket tourism industry enjoyed a solid performance during the recent Songkran holidays, with hotel occupancy rates averaging about 70% across the island, officials say. Bangonrat Shinaprayoon, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) regional office in Phuket Town, said an estimated 800 million baht (US$ 26 million) in generated revenue over the week met TAT projections. Some…
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Don’t forgot the Phuket Punchline – it’s tomorrow!
PHUKET: It’s that time of the month again – no, not that – when Phuket expats head for Patong for an unadulterated dose of one-liners from a trio of comedians. Yes, the Phuket Punchline Comedy is here – well – Wednesday night at the Holiday Inn Patong to be more specific. For more specific specifics, read on. Three very different…
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Thailand vows to get tough on frauds against foreign tourists
PHUKET: Thailand’s deputy prime minister in charge of national security has vowed to prevent foreign tourists from being cheated during their visits to the country, including, specifically, Phuket. Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said after attending meetings with the Tourist Fraud Prevention Committee that the problem needs to be eliminated. He said that there are many forms of cheating, starting…
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FC Phuket trounce Chiang Mai, 4-0
PHUKET: FC Phuket rebounded from two tough road losses to demolish Chiang Mai FC by a score of 4-0 at Surakul Stadium yesterday. Crowd favorite Sarach Yooyen, just returning to play after suspension, got the scoring underway at seven minutes, finishing a good delivery from Rapeepan Poonsawat. Just before the end of the first half, Nirun Phunthong set up Nene…
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7 dead, 52 injured in Songkran road accidents in Phuket
PHUKET: Seven people died and 52 were seriously injured in a total of 43 reported road accidents in Phuket during the ‘Seven Days Of Danger’ road safety campaign. Six of the dead, a group of Burmese and their Thai driver, perished on Sunday when the overloaded pickup they were in lost control on a curve on the steep access road…
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Brake failure, overloading cause Phuket hill crash: DDPM
PHUKET: An official report issued by the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation office in Phuket (DDPM-Phuket) stated that the cause of yesterday’s crash that killed six people in the Chalong hills was brake failure and overloading. A total of 14 people were injured, seven severely. The names of the dead were listed as the driver, 41-year-old Thongdaeng Piwjun, and…
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Phuket Big Buddha crash update: 5 dead, 15 injured
PHUKET: Rescue workers at Phuket Ruamjai Kupai Foundation have confirmed that at least five people died in the head-on collision on Phuket’s Big Buddha hill this morning. Among the dead was a baby girl estimated at only two to three years old. The other deceased were two men and two women. Fifteen others have been taken to Vachira Phuket Hospital,…
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FC Phuket play Chiang Mai tomorrow
PHUKET: Former league leaders FC Phuket will take on Chiang Mai at Surakul Stadium tomorrow night, hoping to find the winning touch again after two tough road losses that have seen them slide from first to sixth in the 18-team Thai League Division 1. They are coming off consecutive losses at Bangkok United and PTT Rayong. FC Phuket went into…
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Songkran 2011: Phuket records first road death
PHUKET: Phuket’s dream of keeping the road accident death toll to zero throughout the Songkran holiday’s ‘Seven Days of Danger’ safety campaign came to an abrupt end in Thalang this morning when a van hit a motorbike with a sidecar, killing one man and injuring another. The accident occurred at about 5:30am on the Muangmai-Airport Road, near Thalang Technical College.…
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Another Phuket Suicide: Man found hanged from tree in Chalong
PHUKET: Family are accepting as suicide the death of a man found hanged in a dense patch of jungle off Soi Nakok in Chalong, south of Phuket Town, this morning. Duty officer Chianchai Duangsuwan of Chalong Police arrived at the scene at 10:30am to find the body of 47-year-old Samer Wongmuang hanging from a tree. Tied around his neck was…
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Welfare ‘gift’ from Bangkok to include Phuket taxi drivers
PHUKET: Phuket taxi drivers, not universally popular with the island’s residents and legions of foreign tourists, will soon be among the beneficiaries of billions of baht in central government welfare funds. It was announced earlier this month that the government is expanding its ‘Pracha Wiwat’ welfare program from Bangkok to ten provinces, including Phuket. The program focuses on providing support…
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Soldier faces court martial over Phuket pub shooting
PHUKET: The man who opened fire in a Phuket pub early this morning, killing one person and injuring four others, is a soldier and will be handed over to the Military Police to face a court martial in Narathiwat tomorrow morning. The news was confirmed by Deputy Commissioner of Region 8 Police Pisan Chuldilok, who arrived in Phuket this afternoon…
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One dead, four injured in Phuket pub shooting
PHUKET: One man is dead and four others, including a woman, are injured after a pub brawl ended in a shooting frenzy in Phuket early this morning. Lt Col Somkid Khaosang of Cherng Talay police station said police received a call at 1am saying people had been shot at the Return Pub, across the road from Cherng Talay Witthayakom School.…
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Asean meet rescheduled for Phuket
PHUKET: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit with dialogue partner countries, delayed following anti-government protests in April last year, has been tentatively rescheduled to take place in Phuket in June this year, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has announced. PM Abhisit said Thailand would first consult with the countries involved to confirm whether their leaders would be free to…
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Phuket tourist catches a thief
PHUKET: German tourist Damian Skrzypietz didn’t start Songkran this morning dousing fellow revellers in water fights. He started his Thai New Year chasing a burglar who had just robbed his rented house in Cherng Talay, tearing down the street after him barefoot and dressed only in his boxer shorts. “I was sleeping in the bedroom when my girlfriend woke me…
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Phuket Songkran road fatalities still on zero
PHUKET: After two days of the Songkran ‘Seven Days of Danger’ road safety campaign, not a single person has died in a road accident in Phuket, but that hasn’t stopped drunk drivers from spilling onto the roads and into the hospitals. According to the Phuket office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM), which is compiling road-toll statistics…
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No late closing times for Phuket bars during Songkran
PHUKET: All bars in Phuket must close at their regular closing times tonight and throughout the Songkran holidays, Governor Tri Augkaradacha has announced. “We have no policy to allow bars and entertainment venues to extend trading hours during this Songkran,” Governor Tri told the Gazette. “It is not like holidays during the high season, when we allow them to stay…
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Phuket father of three claims malpractice left wife in coma
PHUKET: A distraught husband has complained to the local media that his wife is now in a coma following complications after a Cesarean-section childbirth operation at a well-known private hospital on the island. Arthit Boonnark, 47, told reporters gathered at Bangkok Hospital Phuket yesterday that his wife, 38-year-old Pariporn Jantarothai, fell into a coma not long after giving birth to…
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Phuket kicks off Songkran with Patong parade
PHUKET: Tourists from all parts of Phuket will be “heading over the hill” this evening to enjoy a special Songkran Parade to mark the arrival of the Thai New Year tomorrow. Featuring entrants representing 28 different groups and organizations, the Patong parade will set off from Phang Muang Sai Kor Road, behind Jungceylon, at 5pm. The parade will head south…
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Songkran takes to the sky over Phuket
PHUKET: PHUKET is in for a spectacular treat this afternoon and tomorrow (April 13) when the island’s first “Sky High” show occurs over Patong Beach – weather permitting. The highlight of the show will see world renowned stunt pilot Les Vorosmarthy performing breathtaking aerobatcs in his 350 horsepower, Extra 300L stunt plane. Les will be performing spins, stalls, slips, slides,…
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Phuket Live Wire: Watching the CAT suck through the same straw
PHUKET: Live wire reader “RT” recently compiled a one-day profile of international Internet download speeds in Kamala, on Phuket’s west coast, from CAT’s wireless network. The raw data is posted on PhuketInternetSpeed.com. I’ve heard of problems with CAT’s CDMA/EV-DO network in Kamala for years. People who try to connect from different parts of Kamala get very different speeds, depending on…
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Brit arrested in Phuket coke bust
PHUKET: A 43-year-old British man was arrested for possession of cocaine at his Phuket home earlier today. The man was caught at 4:45am with 33 packages of cocaine weighing 0.9 gram each at a house on Nanai Road in Patong. The arrest followed a police complaint by a Thai woman claiming to be his wife. She told Patong Police he…
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Warehouse gutted in Phuket Town blaze
PHUKET: A warehouse blaze took Phuket firefighters about 30 minutes to extinguish early this morning. Phuket City Police at 2:30am received a report of a fire on Wirat Hongyok Road, a few doors down from the Lotus Express shop. By the time Phuket City and Wichit Municipality firefighters arrived, there was little they could do to save the warehouse, which…
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Phuket Bike Week rolls on
PHUKET: The official festivities for Phuket Bike Week 2011 draw to a close in Patong tonight after another full day of big bike fun and games, live music and road trips around the island. At 4pm today, a convoy of riders will leave Loma Park on Patong Beach, the main rallying point and concert venue for Phuket Bike Week this…
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Phuket Public Transport: Cartels continue in the driver’s seat
PHUKET: The latest fiasco at Phuket’s Deep Sea Port once again underscores the need for an immediate overhaul of the island’s public transport system, but the results of the talks that ended this latest blockade confirm that reform will not be coming soon. (See front-page story, current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click here to download the full…
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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