Phuket News
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Construction worker electrocuted
SAMKONG: A workman fixing an aluminum ceiling in a new house in the Sam Kong area died yesterday of electrocution. A colleague of the dead man told police that he was working at the back of the house on Yaowarat Rd, about 200 meters from the Bangkok Phuket Hospital, when he heard a scream from the front of the house.…
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French tourist dies after pool mishap
PATONG: A 31-year-old French tourist, Franck Amani, who was pulled from the bottom of a hotel swimming pool yesterday morning, died last night at the Bangkok Phuket Hospital. Pol Maj Pisit Cheanpetch of Kathu Police Station told the Gazette that Mr Amani and his friends had gone to Soi Bangla in Patong the previous night and had not returned to…
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Burmese fisherman murdered
PHUKET TOWN: A Burmese fisherman was found murdered in a rented house near the fishing port early yesterday morning. Pol Lt Kaneuing Pitakkultorn of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that, at around 10 am yesterday, he received a phone call informing him of the murder. In the house on Anuphasphuketkarn Rd in Tambon Rassada, Lt Kaneuing found the…
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Concessionaires sought for boat quay
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) has admitted defeat in its attempts to get tour boat operators to use its smart new Rassada Quay on Sri Sena Rd. Instead of trying to run the 65-million-baht quay itself, the OrBorJor now plans to call for bids from companies interested in running the pier on a concession basis. “We just…
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Farmers demand help with debts
BANGKOK (AFP): Ten thousand Thai farmers massed in Bangkok today, demanding government help in their battle to pay debts and a new push on agricultural reform. The demonstrators arrived in trucks from 17 northern provinces and congregated at the city’s Royal Plaza, close to Government House. “They want the government to pay off their debts and to solve problems over…
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CAT makes deep cuts in overseas call rates
PHUKET: The Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) has reduced the rates for overseas calls to 44 countries by as much as 35% (see table above). Voravit Vorapiboonpong, chief of the Phuket Telecommunications Center, told the Gazette that the rate reductions were introduced because the CAT wants to encourage more people to make overseas phone calls. The reductions will apply to…
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Drug bust nails big ya bah dealer’s brother
PHUKET TOWN: Police yesterday arrested a 30-year-old man who, they believe, had ambitions to take over from his brother as one of Phuket’s biggest dealers in ya bah (methamphetamine). The man, Seksan Tuambang, was arrested in possession of 200 tablets of the drug in a sting operation involving the dealer’s right-hand man, Mongkol Kantakarn, 19. Pol Maj Manat Iamchareonchaikul, Inspector…
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Head-to-head contest in Kathu poll
KATHU: Two parties will each contest all of the 12 seats in the June 10 election to choose the new Kathu Municipal Council. One party, the Kathu Ruamjai Party, is led by Suthep Sanguanpanont, the Mayor of the Municipality until it was dissolved at the end of April to prepare for the election. K. Suthep was also President of the…
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Dolphin found dying at Sansook Beach
PHUKET: Boys playing on Sansook Beach in Tambon Rassada found a female bottlenose dolphin dying yesterday evening. “She was still alive when the boys found her floating near the shoreline. They told us that they heard her cries first,” said Supoj Jantrapornsil, a technician at Phuket Marine Biological Center. The dolphin died on the beach not long afterwards. There was…
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Exchange firm robbed of 1 million baht
PHUKET TOWN: Two armed men stole a million baht from a currency exchange in Phuket Town yesterday. Pol Maj Sanya Thongsawas of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that Parinya Sangrangchujit, 45, manager of the exchange operation, was counting money he had just withdrawn from a bank in Phuket Town, when two neatly dressed men rang the bell. The…
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Ya bah bust next to police station
CHALONG: Three men were arrested on Saturday for possession of ya bah (methamphetamine) at a house just 100 meters from Chalong Police Station. Pol Capt Chokchai Suttimek of the Chalong station told the Gazette that an unidentified man called the police and told them that a ya bah deal was going to take place at Ao Chalong Bungalow. Officers strode…
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Fire aboard survey vessel
AO MAKHAM: A fire broke out yesterday afternoon in the refrigerator room of the vessel Chulabhorn, berthed at the Phuket Marine Biological Center Pier. The fire started while welding work was being done on pipes in the room, said Pol Capt Thanapong Mokthong of the forensic science department, but was extinguished in half an hour using the vessel’s own fire-fighting…
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UK dialing codes change
BANGKOK: Telephone dialing codes in Britain have just been changed radically in what has been labeled “The Big Number Change”, the British Chamber of Commerce in Thailand reports. The changes entail the introduction of new telephone codes and local numbers for six locations: Cardiff, Coventry, London, Northern Ireland, Portsmouth and Southampton. There are also changes made to certain mobile phone,…
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Helicopter rescue fails to save woman
MAITON ISLAND: The Police Aviation Division’s helicopter flew to Koh Maiton on Friday to pick up a woman who had had a heart attack. She was rushed to a hospital in Phuket Town. Dr Boonrieng Chuchaisangrat, head of the Phuket Provincial Health office, told the Gazette that he had received a phone call from Maiton Resort at 6 pm on…
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Thai beaches disappearing quickly
BANGKOK (AFP): Some of Thailand’s most popular beaches are disappearing as man-made structures speed up coastal erosion, reports said today. A 115-kilometer (71-mile) stretch of beaches famed amongst Thais and foreigners since the reign of King Rama VI early last century has been severely eroded, the Bangkok Post reported. The resort regions of Hua Hin, Cha-am and Petchaburi, south of…
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Phuket will “definitely’ impose hotel room tax
PHUKET: Hotels in Phuket are preparing for tough negotiations with the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), which has announced that it will begin collecting tax from hotels in October. The tax will be based on revenue from rooms only. The OrBorJor president, Dr Prasit Koysiripong, told the Gazette today that although the law allows the rate to be as high…
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PINS opts for white knight solution
PHUKET: The Board of Directors of the Phuket International School (PINS) has decided to invite US-based Quality Schools International (QSI) to assume operation of the cash-strapped school. Although the decision was up to the directors, parents were asked for their opinions on five options. These were: – To affiliate with QSI; – To remain independent but raise fees to a…
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Head of child beggar racket arrested
PATONG: Tee Phan, 37, the kingpin of a child beggar racket, was arrested by Kathu police in Patong early yesterday morning. “Our motorcycle patrol was just checking along the beach road as usual. Then, around 1:30 am, we saw a group of child beggars in front of Patong Seafood Restaurant,” said Pol Capt Adinan Benchasamai. There was a crying boy…
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After corrupt poll, Thailand tries again
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand will make a second attempt Saturday to fill its upper house of parliament after a first round of voting under a new anti-corruption constitution was tainted by rampant vote buying. Twenty-six million voters will be called out in 35 provinces where winning candidates in the March 4 Senate polls were disqualified for cheating. But doubt has already…
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12 die in traffic accidents
PHUKET: Twelve people were killed in traffic accidents between February 20 and March 20, according to statistics from the Wachira, Thalang and Patong government hospitals. Ampaipan Pawawattananusorn, of the Phuket Provincial Health Office, reports that 11 of the victims died in motorcycle accidents, while one involved a bicycle. In the same period, 74 people were injured in auto accidents, while…
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Italian nurse arrested for theft
CHALONG: Angela Pucillo, 29, an Italian nurse, was arrested by Chalong Police on Saturday for stealing money from Mr Chijeo Inoo, a 29-year-old Japanese tourist. Pol Capt Thanate Poungmanee of Chalong Police Station said that Pucillo and Mr Inoo arrived in Bangkok on April 11 on the same flight. They decided to travel together. They took a bus to Phuket…
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Rapist caught in the act on Patong Beach
PATONG: A 19-year-old woman from Ayuthaya was raped on Patong Beach last Friday night. Pol Maj Sa-nguan Muangtam of Kathu Police Station said that at about 11 pm on April 21, Wanchai Teanprarooyai, a 33-year-old motorcycle taxi driver, reported that a girl was being raped in a tent toward the north end of the beach near Loma Park. Police went…
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Major land auction to be held in Phuket
PHUKET: Two of the largest land plots on Racha Yai Island will be up for public auction here in June. Racha Yai is located about twenty kilometers south of Phuket. The total area of the island is 1,700 rai (approx 680 acres). There are currently three resorts on the island: Ban Raya, Raya Executive, and Raya Resort. There is also…
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Ya Bah arrests continue in Patong
PATONG: Two men were arrested in Patong on Thursday afternoon with 52 pills of ya bah (methamphetamine). Pol Lt Col Pichet Supmee of Kathu Police Station told the Gazette that his officers received a report from an informant that there was a group of people selling the illicit drug in Soi Paradise Complex, off Rat-U-Thit Rd. An undercover officer was…
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Panic after “corpse’ comes back to life
BANGKOK (AFP): A Thai man sparked panic when his body twitched as it was loaded into cold storage a day after he was pronounced dead, forensic experts said today. Aroon Chansawan, 75, collapsed at a nursing home near Bangkok late Tuesday and was declared dead after police officials failed to detect a pulse. His body was taken for an autopsy…
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Bus service launch delayed again
PHUKET TOWN: The date for the launch of Phuket Town’s first real bus service has been postponed for at least another month because PB Holdings, the operator, has not yet been able to find all the buses it needs. The launch of the service has been plagued with delays. Originally planned for May of last year, the date was pushed…
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Police deny Tamil Tigers report
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Marine Police today denied a report in a major daily newspaper that they had recently checked and then released a speedboat that might have been used by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to transport supplies from Phuket to an LTTE base on an island nearby. The LTTE have been waging a long and bitter civil…
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Fried chicken terribly costly for Mercedes lady
PHUKET TOWN: A woman who parked her car briefly on Friday found herself half a million baht poorer when she got back behind the wheel. Pol Capt Anukul Nookate of Phuket Town Police Station said Lynchee Somsak, 42, stopped her car on Luang Por Wat Chalong Rd to buy fried chicken. She told the police that, because the chicken vendor…
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Diesel smugglers arrested
PHUKET: Four Thais were arrested on Saturday evening on charges of smuggling untaxed fuel into Thailand, and 60,000 liters of low-grade diesel, worth about 180,000 baht, was seized from their vessel, the Look Kob. The vessel was also impounded. Pol Col Surapol Tuanthong, Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Thai Marine Police, said that the modified fishing vessel was stopped near…
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Chalerm denies masterminding assassination attempt
BANGKOK (AFP): The deputy leader of Thailand’s main opposition party denied masterminding the attempted assassination of a prosecutor who was allegedly investigating his sons, reports said yesterday. “A man like me does not need to hire anyone to kill someone else. I would do it myself,” the Bangkok Post quoted Police Captain Chalerm Yubamrung, deputy leader of the New Aspiration…
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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