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 simulated terrorist bomb drill held at Phuket International Airport yesterday went off without a hitch, organizers said. In the exercise, members of the Phuket Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit and Airports of Thailand (AoT) staff short-circuited one bomb with a high-pressure water device, responded to a “fire” when a second was detonated, and cared for “injured” participants
PHUKET: A Phuket security guard who turned to crime may have regretted his decision after the bag he stole turned out to contain nothing more than cosmetics, and CCTV images led police to his rented room the same day.
PHUKET: Three Thai musicians have been arrested for the murder of 51-year-old American tourist Bobby Ray Carter Jr and the assault of his 27-year-old son in Krabi early this morning. According to one of the suspects, Ratikorn Romin, 27, from Phang Nga, a fight broke out between the three musicians and the Americans, who had joined them on-stage last night at Ao Nang’s Longhorn Saloon Bar, before the evening took a deadly turn. The police were called to the scene at about 1:30am and were confronted with the aftermath of a night of drinking and live music gone horribly wrong.
PHUKET: A crane manipulating a heavy section of concrete pipe toppled over in Phuket this afternoon, demolishing the second floor of two shops, and though no one was injured, the driver fled the scene. “As the crane was lifting a section of pipe, land subsided under the crane arm, causing the operator to lose control,“ said Sumpawat Wannasangkam of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) office at Patong Municipality.
PHUKET: The South African family attacked near Soi Bangla (map here)
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: Top Phuket officials, including Governor Maitri Inthusut, yesterday attended the first public hearing for the proposed new road from Sirirat Road, near Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort, to Tri Trang Beach, on the southern headland of Patong Bay. About 100 people turned out to join the meeting, held at the Phuket Graceland Resort and Spa in Patong. “Actually there is already an old road that villagers use from Sirirat Road to Muean-Ngern Road, but it is just a dirt track.
PHUKET: A full-scale emergency-response drill will take place at Phuket International Airport today – Wednesday, July 31 – as part of the Phuket International Airport Emergency Plan 2013. “The exercise will begin at 10am and last for one hour, at the parking lot, right in front of Phuket Airport Terminal 2,” said Airports of Thailand’s Acting Phuket Director Somsiri Kuengsopha. “The drill will involve explosives being detonated in the area.
PHUKET: Reckless speedboat captains and tour guides chasing day-trip commissions have been named as the leading culprits jeopardizing tourists’ safety at Koh Racha, a popular day-trip island south of Phuket. Sarit Jandee, president of the Racha Conservation Club, blamed tour guides for encouraging day-trippers to swim and rent water-sports equipment on the west side of the island, which at this time of year has rough surf