PHUKET: A 26-year-old man died early yesterday morning while he was heading home from work in Phuket Town after his motorcycle rammed into the back of an 18-wheel truck travelling slowly in the left lane. Truck driver Wichet Boonsong, 43, from Phattalung, was delivering a load of sheet metal from Songkhla when he heard something crash into the back of his truck, explained Thalang Police Capt Chatree Chuwichian. “The Phuket Sheet Metal Company is located opposite the Baan Nai Klum Mosque in Thalang.
PHUKET: Patong business owners – tired of inaction by Phuket authorities in tackling corrupt officials collecting an estimated 50 million baht a month – have filed a complaint directly with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. “I handed the complaint personally to Suranand Vejjajiva, the Secretary General to the Prime Minister of Thailand Yingluck Shinawatra,” Phuket businessman and adviser to the Thailand Trade Organization Chart Chindapol announced today. Speaking to the press this morning, Mr Chart alleged that formal complaints filed to the “highest-ranking government official on the island” had yielded no response.
PHUKET: Occupancy at beach and Phuket Town hotels during the Vegetarian Festival is at 85 per cent or higher, said Governor Maitri Inthusut. As he took part in festivities at the Tha Rua shrine yesterday, the governor noted that hotels along parade routes in Phuket Town were fully booked. Even hotels not on the parade routes – those at island beaches – are reporting 85 to 90 per cent occupancy rates.
PHUKET: Six ma song (spirit mediums) have been admitted to hospital for wounds incurred during this year’s Phuket Vegetarian Festival, and three people have been admitted for injuries sustained from firecrackers.
PHUKET: Non-stop rain in Patong could not stop an iguana tout from offering tourists photo opportunities with his captive reptile, a protected species.
PHUKET: Two injured Olive Ridley sea turtles washed up on Phuket’s west coast yesterday.
PHUKET: The illegal Phuket taxi driver who abducted and sexually assaulted a teenage Chinese tourist while under the influence of drugs and alcohol walked out of Phuket Provincial Court a free man today after being handed down a suspended sentence. Paitoon Kruain, 32, was handed a sentence of 13 months suspended jail time and a fine of 10,500 baht after pleading guilty to all charges against him
PHUKET: Karon Police arrested two ladyboys on Tuesday following a theft complaint from a Swedish tourist. Robin Hedberg, 18, told police on Sunday that he and a friend had been walking past the Club Med hotel in Karon at 2:45pm when two ladyboys rode up to them on a motorbike and started talking with them
PHUKET: A Russian dive instructor who worked in Phuket drowned off Racha Noi Island on Saturday afternoon. Denis Lipatov, 39, was at the island with friends when he developed a cramp while swimming at about 5pm
PHUKET: Officers led by Lt Gen Preawphan Damapong, the assistant police commissioner in charge of national drug suppression, this afternoon moved in and arrested American Joseph Manuel Hunter, 48, at his rented home in Kathu.