PHUKET: Business operators whose concessions have not been renewed to operate shops and provide services at Phuket International Airport will have the chance to appeal to a top Ministry of Transport official tomorrow. Col Winai Sompong will arrive in Phuket to discuss the issue directly with the retailers, explained Phuket Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosuttirak. The news came after Thammawat Wongcharoenyut led nine other airport business operators this morning to file a complaint to Vice Governor Somkiet against Airports of Thailand (AoT), which operates Phuket Airport.
PHUKET: An argument broke out during the Phuket Governor’s monthly meeting with the media yesterday when journalist-residents of Wichit turned on the manager of Phuket Provincial Waterworks demanding to know why their water had been suddenly cut off for three days. “Phuket Provincial Waterworks shut off the water supply water without notice,” said one media member who lives in Wichit. “I didn’t have a chance to stock up on water,” he added.
PHUKET: The Phuket Employment Office yesterday launched a two-day series of seminars to educate Russians, Chinese and Koreans operating tourism-related businesses in Phuket about work permits and employment law regarding foreigners. Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut officiated the opening of the first seminar yesterday, attended by 100 foreign and Thai representatives working for tour operators that cater to Russians tourists. Talks were delivered in Thai and related to attendees by translators.
PHUKET: Amid concerns over the high number of drownings in recent years, the Phuket Marine Police are providing lifeguard training to staff at hotels and resorts in Patong. The officers are also recruiting more volunteers from Patong’s hospitality industry to join a network of people trained to swiftly report crimes. The two-day training program at the Patong Resort Hotel ended yesterday.
PHUKET: A tombstone unearthed in the tiny village of Bang Phuying last month has led a crack team of local forensic scientists to speculate that the apparent death of one of Phuket’s first American expats, Carter J. Wyatt, may have been the result of perfectly natural causes. The head of the team, Police Detective Chadjen Maikaojai, told the Phuket Gazette this morning that the inscription on the stone, authored by Wyatt himself, “may have been written before his death,” and that foul play is now “definitely suspected”.
PHUKET: An Italian expat down on his luck was arrested yesterday after he stole 100 baht from a donation box at a Phuket temple. Monks at Karon Temple (Wat Suwankirikhet – map
PHUKET: Phuket’s leading environment officer today speculated that the color of the seawater at Patong Bay turned an off-brown, instead of the renowned Andaman blue over the weekend possibly due to a “plankton bloom”. The news comes two days after officials staged a press event, led by Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut, promoting the launch of a campaign to regularly test the quality of seawater at Phuket’s key tourist beaches, starting with Patong (story
PHUKET: A landslide early-detection system costing 4-million-baht has been installed in the Patong Hills.
PHUKET: A Nigerian man arrested for possession of cocaine in Phuket yesterday was also found to be carrying a passport with a visa stolen from the Thai embassy in Malaysia. Karon Police on patrol were notified by an undercover officer of the location of the Nigerian, who was believed to be in possession of drugs.
PHUKET: Patong officials are determined to discover the source of foul water being pumped into the sea at Patong Beach following a large section of dirty water surfacing at the beach yesterday. “Our municipality was not aware of the problem. However, now that we know, we will step in to solve the problem as soon as possible,” Panida Klinbbusa, an officer of Maintenance Services department of Patong Municipality, told the Phuket Gazette.