PHUKET: The guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins arrived in Phuket yesterday, anchoring at the Deep Sea Port at Cape Panwa. The Higgins, the US Navy’s 26th Arleigh Burke class destroyer, carries a crew of 276 sailors and a formidable armament of standard and vertical-launch missiles, long-range Tomahawk missiles, two triple-tube torpedo mounts and deck guns. “The crew were welcomed to Phuket with a beachfront dinner last night in Patong, where many sailors have been enjoying the nightlife,” said an officer at the Royal Thai Navy’s Phuket-based Third Area Command.
PHUKET: Only one of the three musicians charged with killing American tourist Bobby Ray Carter Jr in Krabi last week appeared in court for arraignment on Monday.
PHUKET: Members of the Phuket Pitak Siam group and their anti-government cohorts in Bangkok will join Democrat supporters and People’s Army protesters to rally against the amnesty bill in front of Parliament House tomorrow. An estimated 70,000 people are expected to join the street protest, Pitak Siam Phuket coordinator Apharat Chartchutikumjorn told the Phuket Gazette this morning. “The Democrat Party has announced that they will protest overnight and that more people will be coming to join us.
PHUKET: Heavy rain in Phuket this morning caused minor flooding across the island, including in Patong on the west coast, in Chalong in the south and in Srisoonthorn in Thalang. Roads cut off by flash-flood runoff forced traffic to a standstill as small vehicles could not get through
PHUKET: Officials put down a fierce two-and-a-half meter long crocodile after it and another croc escaped from a crocodile farm in Phang Nga today.
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette has confirmed reports of an explosion at the Phuket Provincial Hall complex in Phuket Town just after 2pm today.
PHUKET: Ten men were rescued after spending two hours holding onto floating debris between the Krabi coast and Phi Phi Island, off Phuket, late yesterday afternoon. The cargo boat Unity, carrying food, construction materials and other supplies bound for Phi Phi, was struck by large waves reaching up to four-meters high after passing Koh Por Da, the boat’s captain, Thaweep Choonoon told the Phuket Gazette
PHUKET: A huge king cobra about five meters long was captured while attempting to swallow a baby python on Tuesday morning in a fruit plantation off Patak Road near Karon. “Mr Yo, a Burmese man who lives in a labor camp in the fruit plantation, saw the king cobra first,” said Wisit Chuanchit, a villager who witnessed the snake-on-snake incident
PHUKET: Officers stationed at the Pa Khlok Police Box were in for a startling surprise last night when a drunk man arrived to report his son missing, but erupted in a violent rampage after police could not immediately locate the missing son. The man, identified as 41-year-old Pa Khlok villager Sunchai Fordkaew, arrived at the police box at 8pm
PHUKET: Phuket City Police are rounding up teenagers from the streets of Phuket Town in the hope of apprehending the youngsters who have been sneaking up behind unsuspecting victims and slapping them on the back of the head. The reports started flowing in last week, with people complaining that they had just been slapped – hard – by a teenager, Phuket City Police Chief Col Sermphan Sirikong told the Phuket Gazette this morning. “About a week ago, we started receiving reports from Phuket City Municipality of a gang of male teens, about 16 to 17 years old, riding motorbikes and trying to hit street sweepers and people who went to exercise at Saphan Hin public park in Phuket Town,” Col Sermphan said.