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: Phuket City Police say they have arrested at least 13 teenagers for endangering people by throwing firecrackers into the dense crowds lining the streets for the Vegetarian Festival, now in the sixth day of this annual nine-day event. “I assigned three undercover police teams to patrol Phuket Town, focusing specifically on where we had received complaints about teens using firecrackers to deliberately be a nuisance,” said Phuket City Police Superintendent Sermpan Sirikong.
PHUKET: A Phuket Tourist Police officer has been kicked off the force as the prosecutor moves forward in charging him over a double-homicide in a drug-den shootout in March.
PHUKET: Traffic police in Thalang today confirmed that they will crack down on motorists congesting the roadways around 7-Elevens and other small convenience stores in the Phuket district within the coming weeks. “In the next two weeks, my team and I will talk to branch managers at 7-Elevens and other small convenience stores, and ask them to announce to their customers not to park too close to the road or block the entrances of streets and driveways,” Thalang Police Deputy Superintendent Sarawut Meeboon told the Phuket Gazette. Lt Col Sarawut noted that many of these stores are located on the corners of small side streets, creating the opportunity for careless parkers to both block access to the side streets and congest traffic on main roads.
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO) will spend 14 million baht on a water gate to help alleviate flooding in Patong. The news came at a meeting on Tuesday between PPAO President Paiboon Upatising and Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut to discuss strategies to prevent flooding in Phuket
PHUKET: An armed robber made off with 1,000 baht from a Chalong 7-Eleven convenience store early Tuesday morning.
PHUKET: A Myanmar national welding on top of the police box at the Kalim junction in Patong at about 6pm yesterday was shocked by a jolt from a high-voltage line, but not fatally injured. When the back of Aung Naing’s welding rod touched a tree that was in contact with the high voltage line, he received an electric shock that sent him falling to the ground and peeled skin back on his body. Mr Aung, 20, was rushed to Patong Hospital in the back of a pick-up truck by his friends and is being treated in their burn facility, said Patapee Srichai of the Patong Police.
PHUKET: Preparations are underway for one and all to join the “Festival of the Sacrifice” activities to be held at the Muslim Wittaya Phuket School in Koh Kaew on October 15.
PHUKET: Officials at Kamala Beach have completed their mop-up operation after the town was struck by a flash flood on Sunday, but have warned residents that more flooding may be on the way.