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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Parents offer reward to find the suspected killer of their innocent son
by Khanitta Sitong The parents of a Mathayom 4 schoolboy, shot dead in Trang’s Muang district last December, are offering a 50,000 baht reward to anyone who could provide information leading to the arrest of the 51 year old suspect. He was the innocent victim when bullets, intended for someone else, hit and killed him instead. Police say they have…
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“Racial profiling and xenophobic” – a rant against Dual Pricing
“Yet another example of Thailand’s racial profiling and xenophobia towards foreigners.” A post by ‘Despondant Foreigner’ on ThaiVisa has again brought up the ongoing saga of dual-pricing. Dual-pricing is the difference in entry fees, or even some restaurant prices, between ‘locals’ and expats, foreigners and ‘farang’. The rules are applied in a lumpy fashion at various tourist hot spots around…
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Police officer and wanted insurgent shot in Songkhla clash
One policeman has been injured along with an alleged insurgent when troops and southern insurgents clashed in Songkhla’s Sabayoi district today. The exchange of gunfire happened at 10:30am this morning when troops and police reportedly searched for suspects in Ban Long Khuan village in Tambon Khuha. The team received a tipoff that December 26’s Khuan Niang district bombing suspects might…
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Four dead in Narathiwat minivan accident – PHOTOS
PHOTOS: Mettatham Rescue Foundation Four people are dead after a minivan collision in Narathiwat early today. The Mettatham Rescue Foundation reports that they were notified of the accident early this morning in Bajoh, Narathiwat, in the far south of Thailand. The minivan was carrying 12 teachers from a school in Narathiwat, from Malaysia back to the border province. Four people died…
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Two killed in Songkhla after their pick-up is sprayed with bullets
by Santiparb Ramasuta A man and a woman riding in a pickup have been killed this morning after a group of assailants opened fire on them in Songkhla’s Sabaiyoi district. The victims were identified as 34 year old Preecha Phetkaewthng and 33 year old Sathiya Saisuwan. Both were residents of the Sabayoi district. They were rescued from the scene of…
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No sign of concrete policies for conflict in the far South
by Don Pathan Parties offer few if any answers for a 15 year old deadly insurgency that successive governments have failed to quell. Peace and conflict have never been significant parts of any political party platform in Thailand. This is because a sustainable solution calls for long-term commitment to a policy that could prove to be politically costly. Lasting peace requires…
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Dead dugong washed up on Trang Beach
PHOTOS: DNP A dead dugong which was washed up on a beach in Trang today has been sent to Phuket Marine Biological Centre for further examination. The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation reports that Chaiyapruek Weerapong, the head of Mu Koh Libong Non-Hunting Area in Trang was notified that the dugong was washed up on the beach…
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Massive petrol smuggling network uncovered in South
by Krissana Thiwatsirikul PHOTO: Facebook/Thai News Agency Thirteen people have been arrested following the largest seizure of smuggled petrol in the South in years. Soldiers and paramilitary rangers intercepted 290,000 litres of petrol being smuggled at a pier in Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Tha Sala district after a stake-out this morning. Customs and excise officials inspected the petrol and vehicles before handing…
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Boy killed by train while playing on his mobile phone in Songkhla
PHOTOS: Phatong Tredtam Rescue Foundation A 12 year old boy has died on a railway track near a school in Hat Yai, Songkhla after being crushed by a train while he was playing on his mobile phone on local railway tracks. The Phatong Tredtam Rescue Foundation report that Thunglung Police in Hat Yai, Songkhla were notified of the incident at…
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Bryde’s whale family sighted off Chumphon coast – VIDEO
PHOTOS: กรีน นำเที่ยว ดำน้ำเกาะเวียง A family of three Bryde’s whales has been sighted off Chumphon in the Gulf of Thailand. The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources is reporting that a family of three Bryde’s whales was sighted between Koh Weng and Koh Rang off the Chumphon coast. There were two mature Bryde’s whales and a baby Bryde’s whale calf.…
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Monk run over during alms rounds outside Chumphon temple
by Thanongsak Supakan A monk has been hit and killed by a speeding pickup truck in Chumphon this morning. He was making his alms rounds at the time. Police and rescue workers were called to the scene on Pathiu-Chumphon Road in front of Wat Laem Yang (Luang Por Khien) in Pathiu district around 4.30am. The 42 year old pickup driver Apiwan…
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Cabinet supports bid for southern ‘Nora’ dance to be included in UNESCO heritage list
“The Thai government will nominate Nora at UNESCO’s upcoming meeting. “Nora, a southern traditional dance, has been given the nod to seek a place on UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage representatives list.The Culture Ministry has been striving to preserve the unique Thai dance after ‘Khon’, the masked dance drama, was registered on the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list at a…
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Security stepped up in Phuket in the wake of Satun and Patthalung bombs
Phuket security officials have increased safety and tourist security after suspects set off pipe bombs in Statun and Patthalung during the weekend. Although the southern provincial trio of Songkhla, Pattani and Narathiwat have been the site of a 20 year insurgency between southern Thais and Muslim insurgents, provinces north of the region have been largely spared any insurgency-related violence. That…
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Bank evasive after 91 year old claims 5 million baht removed from his account
A 91 year old land owner and farmer in Chumpon claims that he’s had 5 million baht ‘taken’ from one of his bank accounts. Daily News reports that Thon Brahmjan from Tha Kham district had been to the bank, the police and government consumer watchdog Damrongtham Centre at the end of last year after the 5 million baht went missing…
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47 year old shot dead in Narathiwat over drug conflict
A man was shot and killed in Narathiwat last night over an alleged drug-trafficking conflict. Police believe the death is not part of the southern insurgency that has continues to plague Thailand’s deep South for more than a decade. “But the killers may want to disguise their crime as a security case,” according to police. The shooting was reported to…
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Muslim man shot and wounded on the Thai/Malaysia border
Police in Narathiwat are as yet to ascertain whether political or personal motives were behind a shooting in Sungai Kolok district this morning that left a Muslim man severely wounded. Sungai Kolok is on the Thai/Malaysian border. 29 year old Rusalan Do, a resident of Moo 1 in the Rangae district, was shot four times – in the torso, right thigh…
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72 year old grandmother raped and killed in Chumphon
PHOTOS: Daily News A Chumphon man returned from a short fishing trip to find that his wife was missing from the house. 72 year old Pornwichai looked everywhere but was unable to locate her. Eventually the family dog Bunnam came running to the house. Pornwichai said to his pet: “Have you seen your mum then?” The dog became agitated and…
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Italian couple killed as truck rolls on top of them in Chumphon – VIDEO
PHOTO: Screenshot from Thai Rath’s video Two Italian tourists have been killed after an oil truck’s brakes allegedly failed coming down a hill. The truck overturned and rolled onto the pair in Chumphon. Workpoint News reports that the incident happened at an intersection in Paknam, Chumphon yesterday afternoon. Emergency responders arrived to find the overturned oil truck lying on the…
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Anti-vaxers blamed for astonishing rise of Measles in 2018 – UNICEF
“Measles is more contagious than tuberculosis or Ebola, yet it is eminently preventable with a vaccine that costs pennies.” Thailand figures in the Top 10 countries in the world where measles cases rose alarmingly in 2018. Most of the rises of Measles cases in Thailand have occurred in the three southern-most provinces where a large Muslim majority live. In some…
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400 marauding macaques invade plantations in Surat Thani
PHOTO: Catch us if you can Surat Thani officials are coming up with a plan to sort out the 400+ long-tailed macaques who have been invading fruit orchards and oil palm plantations for months. Provincial governor Wichawut Jinto has made the order after receiving countless complaints from residents of the southern province’s Phunphin district saying that the monkeys have caused…
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Rolling his way to Narathiwat raising funds for southern hospitals
PHOTO: ‘Uncle Mee’ during one his fund-raisers last year – The Nation A wheelchair user is on his way in a mega southern journey from Chiang Mai to Narathiwat in the south to raise funds for three hospitals in the southern border provinces. 56 year old Sathit Jantharangsi, or Uncle Mee, reached Phitsanulok last night and was heading to Nakhon…
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History of Thailand’s Southern Insurgency
Whenever there’s news about violence in southern Thailand, Thaiger readers may wonder who’s fighting who, and why. So we present a brief history of the insurgency which has gripped Thailand’s southernmost provinces for decades. The area has been coined the ‘deep south’ or the ‘restive south’ and has become, statistically, a more bloody conflict than the situation on the Gaza…
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Six marine officials killed as van slams into tree, Chumpon
PHOTO: A van is almost totally destroyed after slamming into a tree on Highway 41 in Sawi district of Chumphon yesterday (Sunday) – Facebook/Chumphon Rescue Volunteers at Khao Ka Rong Investigators are blaming a burst tyre on a passenger van that crashed, killing six Marine Department officials in Chumpon, heading back from Phuket towards Bangkok. The officials were killed and five others…
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Southern insurgency: Ranger shot dead in Songkhla house
FILE PHOTO: The latest shooting in a spate of recent violence in the southern provinces – The Nation A ranger based in Yala has been shot dead at his home in Songkhla’s Muang district. Pol Capt Adirek Burintrapibal, the deputy inspector of Muang Songkhla police station, was alerted at 8.30pm last night of the shooting at a house in Moo 10…
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Four rangers escape unharmed after insurgents’ attack in Narathiwat
MAP: Narathiwat’s Ra Ngae district Four rangers have escaped unhurt after southern insurgents detonated a roadside bomb in an attack in Narathiwat’s Ra Ngae district this morning. Police say the attack happened at 8.10am on a main road in Ban Pa Phai village in Tambon Tanyong. The bomb damaged a makeshift shelter for vendors to buy rubber latex from local…
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One dead, one injured in Narathiwat garage shooting
A gunman has opened fire at a Malaysian garage owner in Narathiwat’s Sungai Golok district last night, killing him and severely injuring a Malaysian employee. 54 year old Sulaimi bin Mat Ali died at the Sungai Golok Hospital after the 8:30pm shooting at his car workshop on Soi Pracha Ruamjai off Pracha Uthit 2 Road in Ban Sarayor village in…
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Sentences handed down for militants linked to truck theft and murder in Songkhla
One militant has been sentenced to death and another three handed down life sentences. The sentences were handed down by the presiding judge at the Na Thawee provincial court yesterday in the southern province of Songkhla after being found guilty of murder, robbery and illegal detention. A fifth defendant was sentenced to two years and eight months prison for being an accessory…
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Boom boom on the border – Thailand’s unlikely red-light district
PHOTO: The attractions of Thailand’s southern border town usually become apparent after sunset On one side of the Thai/Malaysian border is Sungai Golok, on the Malaysian side it’s the town of Rantau Panjang. The two towns are separated by the Golok River as well as decades of furious fighting between Muslim separatists who want to reclaim some of the southern…
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A new round of Southern peace talks gives hope but the Junta is stalling during the election campaign
Peace talks to end the long-running conflict in Thailand’s southernmost provinces hit a stumbling block last week when Thailand’s new peace negotiator failed to attend a scheduled meeting. The struggle, commonly referred to in international media as the ‘southern insurgency’, has been between Muslim guerilla fighters and the Thai army, partly over borders, and partly fueled by religious and cultural differences.…
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Whale shark carcass found on Satun Beach
PHOTO: DMCR The body of a whale shark was discovered on a beach in Satun yesterday. The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) is reporting that officials at the Mu Koh Paetra National Park in Satun were notified about the huge whale shark carcass that had been washed on a beach between Phang Ga Ya Bay and Ko Bulon…
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