South Thailand News
Southern Thailand news, Phuket news, Koh Samui news, and Krabi updates—stay informed on business, tourism, and local events from Trang, Songkhla, Yala, and beyond. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Southern Thailand news source.
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Roadside bomb in Narathiwat critically injures three rangers
PHOTO: Waedao Harai Three paramilitary rangers have been injured in Narathiwat following the explosion of a bomb in a roadside stall this morning just after 8am. Security officials say the bomb had been detonated remotely as the three rangers were patrolling past the stall. The stall was under construction at the time. The bomb was encased in a cooking gas…
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Koh Phi Phi dugong died from a gastrointestinal infection
PHOTO: Department of National Parks, Wildlife & Plant Conservation Another dead dugong was discovered over the weekend off Koh Phi Phi in Krabi province. Department of Marine and Coastal Resources veterinarians have determined the death was caused by stomach infection and chronic inflammation of the intestines. Another was found off the coast of Trang on the weekend as well. The…
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Thai politician sought after quartet arrested with large drugs haul
by Jessada Chantharak A Narathiwat politician is on the run following the issuing of an arrest warrant after being implicated in a major local drug bust. A politician at the Narathiwat OrBorTor has been implicated by four drug suspects as the person who hired them to move 459 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, a very large quantity of ‘ice’. Three men, aged…
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Visiting time to see baby dugong Mariam is now restricted
Tourists and local well-wishers are flocking to get a glimpse of ‘Mariam’. She’s become an internet hit. But that’s also caused other problems. The high number of Thai and foreign tourists heading to Duyong Bay in Tambon Koh Libong in Kantang district, Trang, to watch officials looking after seven month old orphan dugong Mariam is prompting authorities to issue regulations to…
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Two defence volunteers killed by suspected insurgents in southern Thailand
Two defence volunteers guarding a road checkpoint in Yala, southern Thailand, have been shot dead while a third volunteer and a villager have been wounded in an attack by suspected insurgents. According to witness accounts, six suspected insurgents, riding three motorcycles, approached the checkpoint in Tambon Lampaya yesterday afternoon (Sunday) and the three pillion passengers opened fire at the volunteers…
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Dugongs ‘live’ from today starring Miriam and Yamil
PHOTO: กรมทรัพยากรทางทะเลและชายฝั่ง Be your own director, choose the camera and follow your baby dugongs live. The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources and TOT are running live trials for a livestream of the care facilities where the two young dugongs ‘Mariam’ and ‘Yamil’ are now living, one in Trang and one in Phuket. The DMCR and TOT intend to provide…
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Thailand’s Princess Sirivannavari names Krabi’s baby dugong ‘Yamil’
Her Royal Highness Princess Sirivannavari has proposed the name ‘Yamil’ for the orphaned baby dugong found stranded in Krabi on July 1. The animal was rescued by villagers and sent for treatment and rehabilitation by marine veterinarians in Phuket. Read about the baby dugong being found HERE. Netizens were invited to name the orphaned baby dugong by officials yesterday. Many…
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Dead dugong, dolphin found off southern Thai beaches
PHOTO: Manoch Wongsuryrat A three-metre long dugong has been found dead off the coast of Trang in southern Thailand. The total number of dead dugong found this year has reached seven, according to the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources when they spoke to Thai PBS. Fishermen found the mammal and towed it ashore for veterinarians to examine. The dugong…
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2 killed, 4 others injured in south Thailand bombings and shootings
PHOTO: Thai PBS A Thai para-military ranger and a local villager were killed, along with three other rangers and another villager who were wounded in two related incidents in the forests of Yala, southern Thailand, this morning. A team of para-military rangers was dispatched to the forest in Ban Kuwing, Village 6 of Tambon Baroh after they received a report…
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89 year old Trang grandmother raped by 71 year old neighbour
PHOTOS: Daily News A 71 year old man in Trang has been arrested after confessing to raping an 89 year old neighbour. Daily News reports that Palian police arrived to find that the woman’s granddaughter, Naphawan, had already taken matters into her own hands and beaten up Yap Chaiphak. She admitted to police that she had hit Yap repeatedly with…
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Burmese worker arrested for stabbing workmate to death in Surat Thani
A Burmese worker has been arrested shortly after allegedly stabbing another Burmese man to death during an alleged drinking argument in Surat Thani’s Tha Chang district, north of Surat Thani city, police said. 26 year old Hern Gogo was arrested inside an oil palm plantation in a village in Tambon Sawiad where he was hired to work with the victim,…
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Two suspects in custody after Surat Thani police officer killed during drug sting
PHOTO: The car that ran over Pol Sen Sgt Maj Poonkrit Buakaeo was found on Friday morning – Supapong Chaolan The body of a police officer, killed on duty during a drug sting in Surat Thani on Thursday evening, was repatriated to his home province of Nakhon Si Thammarat for religious ceremonies yesterday. Meanwhile two suspects accused of killing the officer…
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A pair of 200 year old trees in Chumpon on Thailand’s National Heritage List
PHOTO: Star2.com The Thai Ministry of Culture has declared a Durian tree and one Takien Thong tree, both about 200 years old, in Chumpon, to be part of the country’s national heritage. Culture Minister Veera Rotepojanarat went to Patoh district to preside over the “ordination” ceremony for the two old trees in Tambon Patoh. The ceremony also featured an exhibition,…
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Mariam Live – the Trang baby dugong show
Mariam LIVE. Coming soon to your laptop or smartphone. The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) is preparing to live stream the daily life of the orphaned baby dugong Mariam currently being nursed at Koh Libong in Trang province. Mariam, now six months old and weighing 30 kilograms, is the latest internet star after being rescued in Krabi on…
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Facial recognition security push in Thailand’s South
Concerns are being raised over the move to force all mobile phone users in Thailand’s South to submit their photos for facial-recognition identification. The edict says those who fail to do so by October 31 will have their mobile phone service blocked. The Cross Cultural Foundation says the order given to Thailand’s telecom operators was ‘racial profiling’. “The use of facial-recognition…
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Van driver and nine passengers injured in Songkhla van accident
A passenger van driver and nine passengers have been injured after the vehicle careered off the Asian Highway in Songkhla around lunchtime today. When emergency responders arrived they found the van driver unconscious behind the wheel. All nine passengers had been injured. Three of them, one with a broken arm, were taken to the Narakin Hospital. The incident happened just after…
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Unidentified body found floating in Ranong lake
The body of an unidentified Thai man has been found floating in a small Ranong lake this morning. The body, without any obvious signs of identification, was found on the lake in Moo 2 village in Tambon Bang Bon in Muang district at 8.50am. Police say the man appeared to be around 40 to 50 years old without any identification…
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35 year old arrested over Pattani Big C bombing and other insurgency-related crimes
PHOTO: Remnants of a car bomb that exploded in front of a Big C in Pattani on May 9,2017 A suspect has been arrested by Thai security forces in Songkhla’s Thepa district. The man is believed to be a wanted insurgent – the subject of four arrest warrants in relation to violent incidents in the deep South. He’s been identified…
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Thai PM orders probe into Rohingya boat incident off the coast of Satun
PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered an investigation after a boat carrying 65 ethnic Rohingya and five Burmese men was swept into the shore at Koh Rawi off the coast of Satun in southern Thailand. The PM has asked officials to find out who was behind the incident. The PM has also urged public health agencies to provide the immigrants with…
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Police investigating possible Thai links to Rohingya boatpeople marooned on Rawi Island
PHOTO: Thai PBS 65 Rohingya were discovered yesterday on Koh Rawi off the coast of Satun province, north-west of Malaysia’s Langkawi island, after their boat’s engine broke down on its way, presumably to Malaysia. One Thai national was identified amongst the group. Authorities are questioning the man into possible involvement in human trafficking. The boat was found 500 metres away from…
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21 undocumented Burmese migrants found in Songkhla, alleged Thai trafficker arrested
FILE PHOTO: Malay Mail A Thai man has been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle 21 undocumented Burmese migrants from Thailand’s south across the border into Malaysia. A resort in Tambon Patong of Songkhla’s Hat Yai district was searched by soldiers and police earlier today (Monday) and discovered five Burmese men and two women in two of the rooms. Their account…
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Little Marium growing up in a Dugong Thai nursery
Marium, an orphaned baby dugong found along the Krabi shore two months ago, will remain in the care of a dugong nursery on Koh Libong in Trang for at least six more months. ‘Marium’ means ‘beautiful woman of the sea’. Chaiyapruek Weerawong, head of the Koh Libong Wildlife Preserve, says the female dugong would then be released in the open…
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Driver shot at Songkhla checkpoint after shootout with soldiers
PHOTO: ISOC Region 4 Forward Command Soldiers have shot a suspected drug courier as he tried to speed through a checkpoint following an exchange of gunfire with soldiers. The incident took place in the Saba Yoi district, in front of a school, last night around 8pm. Saba Yoi is the southern-most district in the province of Songkhla. 42 year old…
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17 survive as minivan flips over in Phattalung, southern Thailand
PHOTOS: Pattaung Rescue 17 people have survived after a minivan flipped over in Phattalung in Thailand’s south. Phattalung rescue workers were notified of the incident on the Phattalung –Trang Road in Phattalung province this afternoon. The minivan was travelling from Songkhla to Trang at the time. Emergency responders arrived to find the overturned minivan in the middle of the road.…
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Security stepped up for the end of Ramadan in Songkhla, Thailand
FILE PHOTO Police and troops are stepping up security in Songkhla and the southern province, especially the town of Hat Yai, ahead of the Eid al-Fitr festival – the end of the annual Ramadan – tomorrow (Wednesday). Today is the last day of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. A security source said intelligence agencies believed Muslim insurgents would…
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Airports of Thailand open bidding for new duty free contracts at three airports
Airports of Thailand (AoT) says they will finalise the bidding process to announce who will manage the commercial areas at three provincial airports – Phuket, Had Yai and Chiang Mai – on June 10. King Power Duty Free has had a stranglehold on the duty free concession areas of the country’s four main airports but are having to bid for…
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Gunman shoots and kills village head in Narathiwat mosque
PHOTO: Nation Channel A gunman walked into the Ban Arware Mosque and shot dead the village head in Narathiwat’s Ra Ngae district last night, in southern Thailand. Stray bullets also injured a man praying next to the man at the mosque. Police report that 48 year old Pakruding Tohdeng, the village head of Ban Arwar in Tambon Mareubotok, was killed inside…
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30 False killer whales sighted of Koh Tao – VIDEO
PHOTO: DMCR VIDEO: Ban’s Diving Resort (Official Fan Page) About 30 of false killer whales sighted off Koh Tao, Surat Thani over the weekend. The Department of Marine and Coast Resources reported that they were notified from Ban’s Diving tours operator on Koh Tao that that they were on a speedboat with tourists just off the coast of Koh Tao.…
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Suspect who killed ex-wife’s new husband in Phattalung, arrested at Phuket checkpoint
A suspect who killed his ex-wife’s new husband in Phattalung last Sunday has now been arrested at the Phuket checkpoint at the top of the island. 32 year old Ms Rattana Nookong, Kringkrai Kotchapan’s ex-wife, sustained injuries from Kringkrai’s gun shots. Kriengkrai also shot and killed 40 years old Mr Sarawut Srinoon, Ms Rattana’s new husband in Phattalung on May…
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Villagers taken in under martial law for questioning over Yala shoot-out, Southern Thailand
PHOTO: Charoon Thongnual Security officials have interrogated 18 people living near the site of this week’s clash between soldiers and suspected insurgents in Yala’s Yaha district. “They were brought in for questioning under martial law as authorities intend to go after the unidentified gunmen in Monday’s clash,” a source said yesterday. The Nation reports that the gunfight lasted several hours…
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