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  • MV Hope at Langkawi, four more bodies spotted at sea

    MV Hope at Langkawi, four more bodies spotted at sea

    PHUKET: The Bangladeshi cargo ship MV Hope, which capsized in heavy seas south of Phuket on Thursday night (story here), is expected to arrive at Langkawi, Malaysia, today after being under tow from its position south of Racha Noi Island overnight. The news came as local fishermen reported seeing four bodies in life jackets off Koh Rok, off the coast…

  • Relatives cry murder, Phuket police disagree

    Relatives cry murder, Phuket police disagree

    PHUKET: Relatives of a woman found dead in her car in an old tin mining pond on Monday believe she was murdered, but police do not agree.Wattana Itthisan, the 27-year-old owner of Fasai Minimart in Chalong, was found in her submerged car in an old tin mining pond behind Chalong Temple on Monday morning.“The driver’s window was open and the…

  • Phuket man confesses to suffocating “nagging’ mother-in-law

    Phuket man confesses to suffocating “nagging’ mother-in-law

    PHUKET: A man who suffocated his mother-in-law after an argument in Phuket confessed to the killing several hours after the horrific encounter.The body of Prayad Phawaphutanon, 50, was found half-clothed and lying on her bed by her 14-year-old son when he returned from school yesterday evening, said Thalang Police Superintendent Sirisak Wasasiri today.“After finding his mother dead in bed, he…

  • Phuket chief denies drug payoff, developer extortion claims

    Phuket chief denies drug payoff, developer extortion claims

    PHUKET: Kathu District Chief Veera Kerdsirimongkol has denounced accusations claiming that he accepted cash from drug suspects to overlook test results and that he attempted to extort money from developers by holding their machinery for ransom.Chief Veera flatly denied the allegations: “I have never sought benefits, money or otherwise, to release drug suspects. It’s not true, and all the other…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News; Yingluck dumbs down Thaksin sound bite; Police payout for cell fire; Monks need more proof; Fireworks fatalities spark legal action

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News; Yingluck dumbs down Thaksin sound bite; Police payout for cell fire; Monks need more proof; Fireworks fatalities spark legal action

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PM downplays Thaksin audio clip The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said yesterday that Deputy Defence Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapha had spoken to her by phone about the audio clip in which it is alleged he and Thaksin Shinawatra discussed…

  • American surfer dies in Phuket

    American surfer dies in Phuket

    PHUKET: A 60-year-old American surfing on Phuket’s popular break at Kata Beach died after falling from his board into the water.Mark Carroll arrived in Thailand yesterday and immediately hit Kata’s surf alone after checking into his hotel.“Mr Carroll appeared to have lost consciousness while surfing and fell into the water,” Pichai Wattanawalan of the Karon Police told the Phuket Gazette.The…

  • Phuket teenager shot in gang attack

    Phuket teenager shot in gang attack

    PHUKET: A 16-year-old boy from Rawai was shot in the leg four times by a gang of teenagers in a reprisal attack in Phuket Town last night. The teenager, given the pseudonym “Korn” by police, was shot multiple times at the Esso gas station near the busy Slaughterhouse Intersection (map here) at about 9:20pm. “When we arrived at the gas…

  • Chula United’s Big Bang neutralizes Phuket FC’s glory

    Chula United’s Big Bang neutralizes Phuket FC’s glory

    PHUKET: An ever-determined 10-sided Phuket FC let their 2-1 lead against Yamaha League One (YL1) rivals Big Bang Chula United, slip away in the final minute of added time in a highly-charged fixture. Played on Saturday evening at Surakul Stadium, just under 4,000 spectators turned out, including some 300 pink-shirted BBCU fans – some rumored to be locals coerced to…

  • Phuket Police’s 300 boost Bangla red-light security

    Phuket Police’s 300 boost Bangla red-light security

    PHUKET: In a mass show of police strength, more than 300 officers gathered in Phuket’s famed red-light district of Soi Bangla in Patong on Saturday night in the government’s latest campaign to bolster tourist safety on the island.Led by Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut, the officers patrolled the bars with an eye to keeping the peace, on the lookout for any…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Asiana Air crash unravels; China stays corruption death sentence; Egypt rumbles; Brazil referee decapitated; Pope prays for humble cars; Five dead in Canada train disaster

    Phuket Gazette World News: Asiana Air crash unravels; China stays corruption death sentence; Egypt rumbles; Brazil referee decapitated; Pope prays for humble cars; Five dead in Canada train disaster

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Crew tried to abort landing before San Francisco air crash Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: An Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crashed at San Francisco’s airport on Saturday, leaving two teenage Chinese students dead and more than 180 people injured.The aircraft was travelling “significantly below” its intended speed and…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Four die in police cell fire; American hacked to death over B51; Yingluck declines to step down

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Four die in police cell fire; American hacked to death over B51; Yingluck declines to step down

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Four detainees die in blaze at Nonthaburi police station The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Four cellmates jailed for a range of minor offences died yesterday when a police station in Nonthaburi went up in flames and a guard fled with them still locked up.The four men were…

  • Phuket police move to snare wanted rapist stepfather from Laos

    Phuket police move to snare wanted rapist stepfather from Laos

    PHUKET: Police have requested an arrest warrant for the Laotian man wanted for repeatedly raping and impregnating his 15-year-old handicapped stepdaughter in Phuket. “The stepfather has left the country,” Patong Police Officer Teerasak Boonsaeng told the Phuket Gazette. The 40-year-old man, originally from Laos, has been at large since June 29, when his wife discovered what he had done (story…

  • Phuket Opinion: Memories of Mario

    Phuket Opinion: Memories of Mario

    PHUKET: Having grown up in the 1980s and 1990s in a middle-class American suburb, much of my outlook on life was admittedly influenced, if not framed, by an ingenious team of Japanese programmers and script writers.Indeed, the original Nintendo Entertainment System (launched in the US in 1985) provided an invaluable framework for the formation and development of some of the…

  • Phuket Opinion: Shooting for Island Justice

    Phuket Opinion: Shooting for Island Justice

    PHUKET: The failure of police to bring to justice the man who shot and killed 21-year-old Ekkasit Sangangam in the heart of Phuket Town in early May last year will come as little surprise to veteran observers of Thailand’s criminal justice system. A low-ranking officer assigned to the Patong Police was arrested and charged within minutes of the shooting, which…

  • Phuket Gazette Queer News: Lucky mutants usher in lottery luck – twice | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Queer News: Lucky mutants usher in lottery luck – twice

    PHUKET: Villagers in two provinces at the opposite ends of Thailand are celebrating the births of mutant piglets – after successfully using the lucky freaks to divine winning lottery numbers. The first queer porker was born in a village in the Lamplaimat District in Buriram Province in the Northeast. The animal had five legs, two tongues and fangs sticking out…

  • MV Hope: Three more survivors rescued, two bodies brought ashore Phuket

    MV Hope: Three more survivors rescued, two bodies brought ashore Phuket

    PHUKET: Three more survivors were plucked from the sea yesterday as the Royal Thai Navy continued its search for the crewmen still missing from the Bangladeshi cargo ship MV Hope, which capsized in heavy seas south of Phuket on Thursday night (story here). The three survivors – named as 2nd Officer Mohammad Mobarak Hossain and Cadets Raeq Fairooz and Mushfiqur…

  • Phuket Sports: Explosions, excitement, errors – F1

    Phuket Sports: Explosions, excitement, errors – F1

    PHUKET: Every man jack in the Green Man, Phuket cheered when Sebastian Vettel’s transmission failed. The race had suddenly become exciting. The Championship was teetering towards interesting. Silverstone re-invigorated the season with exploding tyres and Sebastian Vettel’s gearbox failure. It was certainly not the parade behind Red Bull that I had feared. Kimi Raikkonen was let down by his team’s…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Venezuela offers Snowden asylum; 24 dead in Egypt clashes; EU warns US over spying; Mali Army in Tuareg town; 16th century Paris tower opens

    Phuket Gazette World News: Venezuela offers Snowden asylum; 24 dead in Egypt clashes; EU warns US over spying; Mali Army in Tuareg town; 16th century Paris tower opens

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Venezuela offers asylum to Snowden Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Friday he had decided to offer asylum to former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who has petitioned several countries to avoid capture by Washington.“In the name of America’s dignity … I have…

  • Close encounter of the rugby kind – Phuket Sports

    Close encounter of the rugby kind – Phuket Sports

    PHUKET: In a nail-bitingly close encounter, the Wallabies triumphed in the second Melbourne Test. 16-15. A solitary point between the two teams. A series now level at 1-1. Over two games, a total score of 38- 37. Some match-up! Before the game, Lions captain Sam Warburton had referred to “the biggest game of my life.” After the final whistle, Wallabies…

  • Sea survivor: Bangladeshi cargo shipman recounts ordeal

    Sea survivor: Bangladeshi cargo shipman recounts ordeal

    PHUKET: Crewman Abu Bakar Siddique lies resting in a ward in Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket Town, recovering from his ordeal of being washed overboard from the cargo ship MV Hope amid heavy seas late Thursday night. The MV Hope was overpowered by rough seas while en route from Penang, Malaysia, to Chittagong, Bangladesh. The ship was about 25 nautical…

  • Waves take man to sea, return his body the next day

    Waves take man to sea, return his body the next day

    PHUKET: The body of a man who disappeared while fishing with friends in Phuket yesterday was found washed ashore at Kalim Beach, north of Patong, this morning. “Villagers called us at about 9am to say they had found a body on Kalim Beach,” said Patong Police officer Thawatchai Srimai. “He has been identified as Jittakorn Kerdrit, 32, from Surat Thani,”…

  • Sarong unravels mystery of body dumped near Phuket school

    Sarong unravels mystery of body dumped near Phuket school

    PHUKET: The sarong wrapped around the head of the man found dead in a field near a prominent Phuket school has led police to arrest a murder suspect. Police have declined to reveal any information about the suspect, except that he was male. “This is an ongoing investigation. We believe more than two people were involved in the murder and…

  • Phuket Airshow & Family Picnic ready for takeoff

    Phuket Airshow & Family Picnic ready for takeoff

    PHUKET: On behalf of the U.S. Navy League, the organizers, suppliers, sponsors,pilots, cooks, clowns, face painters and the scores of others engaged in presenting the Airshow & Family Picnic at Phuket Airpark this weekend, we at the Phuket Gazette would like to invite you to join us. Phuket has never seen anything like this. Entry is FREE; the shows are…

  • Local fisherman’s body found in Phuket lagoon

    Local fisherman’s body found in Phuket lagoon

    PHUKET: The body of a local fisherman feared drowned was pulled out of a lagoon by rescue divers in Cherng Talay yesterday.Daorueng Lekon, 41, was last seen at about 5pm on Wednesday, walking into the water to place a fish trap in the pond, said Sub Lt Prasert Tongphrom of the Cherng Talay Police.“Villagers said he always went fishing at…

  • Corpse found by the road in Rawai

    Corpse found by the road in Rawai

    PHUKET: The body of a man believed to have been murdered was found wrapped in a blanket by the roadside in Rawai just after midnight on July 4.“His skull was broken – it looked like it had been hit with a hard object. His face was bloodied and covered with a black plastic bag,” said Chalong Police Captain Thada Sodarak.“We…

  • Phuket FC reinforced for TPL promotion push

    Phuket FC reinforced for TPL promotion push

    PHUKET: In their dedicated drive to get promoted to the Thai Premier League (TPL), Phuket FC have regrouped mid-season, signing 10 new players to help them in the final 17 matches of the Yamaha League One (YL1) 2013 season. The new signings include seven Thais, a Brazilian, North Korean and Cameroonian. The club has not made any official announcements about…

  • Phuket Navy resumes sea-rescue search for Bangladeshi crew

    Phuket Navy resumes sea-rescue search for Bangladeshi crew

    PHUKET: Officers from the Royal Thai Navy Phuket base resumed their search this morning for 11 crewmen still missing from the Bangladeshi cargo ship MV Hope, which remains foundering in the Andaman Sea south of Phuket. “We sent out two helicopters and the HTMS Pattani at 6am,” Capt Thammawat Malaisukkarin, Director of the Naval Civil Affairs told the Phuket Gazette.…

  • Phuket Vice Governor donates blood for Buddhist holiday

    Phuket Vice Governor donates blood for Buddhist holiday

    PHUKET: Phuket’s Vice Governor Sommai Prijasilpa this week donated blood to help publicize a special blood drive in honor of Asarnha Bucha Day, which marks the day the Buddha outlined the four noble truths that form the basis of Buddhist thought. The blood drive is scheduled for July 20-23. “We will accept donations from 9am to 3pm at the Phuket…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Chalerm chides ice cream gang; Gov’t pushes B2 trillion loan; Liquid cigarettes inflame health officials

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Chalerm chides ice cream gang; Gov’t pushes B2 trillion loan; Liquid cigarettes inflame health officials

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Chalerm warns Yingluck of her ‘ice-cream gang’ The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A disaffected Labour Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung yesterday warned Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra that she was setting her government up for an early demise thanks to her new “ice-cream gang”. Chalerm was apparently referring…

  • Phuket Navy helicopter rescues cargo shipman in life raft

    Phuket Navy helicopter rescues cargo shipman in life raft

    PHUKET: One more crew member from a foundering Bangladeshi cargo ship was rescued this afternoon when a Royal Thai Navy helicopter spotted him in a life raft, plucked him up from the broiling sea and flew him to safety. “Adubagar Siddiue, 40, was in a life raft not far from the MV Hope,” said Rear Admiral Prayuth Phutien of the…