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Laguna Phuket Marathon to be still bigger and better next year
PHUKET: Now in its ninth year, the Laguna Phuket International Marathon (LPIM) is going from strength to strength with numbers of participants expected to break 6,000 next year including runners from Asia, Europe and the Americas. LPIM is the largest destination marathon in Southeast Asia and sees participants push themselves to the limit in order to raise money for charity.…
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Islander’s Thai FA cup hopes crushed by Muang Thong
PHUKET: The Islanders Thai FA Cup dream came to an abrupt halt last night as they were knocked out 5-0 by current Thai Premier League champions Muang Thong United. The round 16 match was played north of Bangkok at Muang Thong’s 15,000 seat SCG Stadium. The first half finished scoreless, but Mario Djurovski put the home team 1-0 up straight…
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Go Eco Phuket gets going
PHUKET: After hosting the world’s largest underwater cleanup last year, local marine conservation group Go Eco Phuket and the Thai Government are joining forces again this year to break last year’s record by garnering support from over 1,000 participants for the reef and beach cleanup in honor of HM Queen Sirikit’s 81st birthday on August 12. The day after Her…
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Phuket Waste 101 – Dousing the burning issue
PHUKET: As you begin to read this article, try to recall your consumer decisions and habits today. Did you go to the convenience store? What did you buy? Was it put in a plastic bag? When you were done consuming, how did you dispose of your waste? What about lunch – did you have takeaway scooped into one of those…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: B12bn credit union embezzlement charge; Monk’s B95mn cars; Ramadan soldiers turn civil; HK sex slaves saved; Thailand to honor 119yo man
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Credit Union execs accused of embezzling Bt12 billion The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Mounting evidence that Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative Ltd embezzled nearly Bt12 billion has led the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and the Anti Money Laundering Office (AMLO) to launch an investigation into…
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Cat alerts home owner to 5-meter python house call
PHUKET: A woman was alerted to the presence of a giant snake in the carport of her home in Phuket Town yesterday by her cat. “When I went out to hang my clothes up to dry, I saw my cat staring at something,” said Saisamorn Sungmek. “It was a snake,” she said. Kusoldharm Rescue Foundation workers responded to Mrs Saisamorn’s…
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Washing machine fire cleans out Chalong Temple SuperCheap staff room
PHUKET: Two fire trucks rushed to the SuperCheap convenience store located about 30 meters from Phuket’s renowned Wat Chalong temple on Saturday after being notified of a fire there at about 8:30am.“When we arrived at the scene we were confronted by flames coming from a staff room on the third floor of the building,” said Capt Kraisorn Boonprasop of the…
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Police: case of missing Phuket woman romantic, not criminal
PHUKET: Police confirmed today that they do not consider the disappearance of Bunyanee Sungparn, 29 (story here), to be a criminal case. “After her brother reported her missing on July 1, I checked her Facebook page,” said Capt Rattanatorn Bumrungthin of the Thung Thong Police. “I read a conversation between Ms Bunyanee and her brother, Weerawit Sungparn, that mentioned a…
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Foul play not suspected in death of Microsoft engineer at Phuket villa
PHUKET: Phuket Police see no reason to open a murder investigation in the case of a former Microsoft engineer found dead at his villa at Ao Makham last week (story here). The man, American-born Clifford Nelson Bamford, was found floating in his villa pool by his housekeeper on July 1. “There were no signs of a fight at the scene…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: High hopes for Ramadan peace; Thaksin clip a hit; DSI wants missing monk disrobed
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Hopes for Ramadan peace hold The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Thai authorities and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) hope that the initiative taken by the government and Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), aimed at cutting on violence in the deep South, will yield results from the first…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Phuket health officials brace for MERS
Special Report MIDDLE East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) was first identified in Saudi Arabia in September last year. At least 80 people have since contracted the disease; 44 of them died. The most recent deaths, both in Saudi Arabia, were diagnosed on June 28. Both patients were dead five days later. MERS spreads more easily than its relative, the notorious SARS…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Search for MV Hope Bangladeshi crew called off as salvage efforts begin
PHUKET: The Royal Thai Navy today called off its search for the remaining missing crewmen of the Bangladeshi cargo ship MV Hope, which capsized in heavy seas south of Phuket on Thursday night (story here). The news comes after the search yesterday failed to locate any more of the missing crewmen, Capt Thammawat Malaisukkarin, Director of the Naval Civil Affairs…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Glue-huffing monk on holiday in Phuket also a thief
PHUKET: A monk who came to Phuket to visit a friend was arrested in Rassada yesterday and charged with sniffing glue and theft. Police were alerted by villagers at about 6pm yesterday that a monk was sniffing glue in a pavilion at Pa Aram Rattanaram Temple, near Mission Hospital (map here). When police arrived at the temple, they found Chaiyasit…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Phuket Opinion: Refugee runaways – shelters aren’t jails
Jiranun Cheamcharoen, 46, from Ratchaburi, received a BA from Thammasat University and an MA from Ramkhamhaeng University. She has been a social worker since 1991 and the director of the Phuket Shelter for Children and Families on Koh Sireh for four years. Here, she talks about the difficulties of housing Rohingya children and what action she took after they ran…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Deep South strategy wins support; Human trafficking reports slammed; Monk’s millions mount; White Masks to dance July 14
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Yingluck’s Deep South strategy wins support The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Measures introduced by the military to end insurgency in the deep South are well underway and should make good progress under Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s concurrent role as defence minister, Defence Ministry spokesman Colonel Thanathip Sawangsaeng…
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