PHUKET: More than 20 passengers were injured when a bus en route from Bangkok to Phang Nga, north of Phuket, overshot a curve and crashed into a road barrier in Pranburi in Prachuap Khiri Khan province yesterday. A reported 21 passengers and the driver were sent for emergency medical treatment at Pranburi and Thanarat hospitals.
Phang Nga native Uten Singsom, 37, has been working as a lifeguard for 14 years, first at Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort in Patong and for the past three years on Karon Beach.
PHUKET: The recent discovery and subsequent removal of a large fishing net from the well-known dive site Shark Point (story
PHUKET: The Kathu Culture Street Festival, showcasing the blended cultural heritage of the area, starts tomorrow with a parade beginning at 4:00pm at the Kathu market followed by an opening ceremony at 7pm at the main stage at the Kathu Public Health Center. “The goal of the festival is to preserve Kathu’s cultures and traditions, as well as to encourage locals and tourists to learn more about them,” Kathu Mayor Chaianan Sutthikul told the Phuket Gazette
PHUKET: A second round of the Department of Special Investigation’s (DSI) probe into supercar owners suspected of tax evasion did not turn up any cars registered in Phuket. The second batch of cars under investigation was composed of only about 60 vehicles
PHUKET: The long-awaited Phuket airport-to-beach bus hit the road at 9:30am today with little fanfare. Passengers on the inaugural ride from Phuket International Airport to Patong included media, tourists and relatives of bus operator Prakob Panyawai.
PHUKET: Phuket officials were ordered to take action today against a restaurant found to be illegally built and encroaching on the beach south of Patong. “We ordered every relevant government organization to take action against the restaurant’s owner after we established that the restaurant was built on public property,” Chief of the Damrongtham Center Prapan Kanprasang told the Phuket Gazette
PHUKET: Raids by law enforcement officials rescued 12 Burmese women from forced prostitution in Phang Nga and Phuket on July 10. Three suspects were taken into custody for sex trafficking during the raids, and arrest warrants were issued for two others believed to be part of a human trafficking gang. Agents from the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) were tipped off by the Myanmar Association in Thailand about two businesses which were offering sex services to their customers.
PHUKET: A 22-year-old Russian man was arrested by Immigration Police in Patong last night after he was caught attempting to sell spa products to a plainclothes officer. Immigration officers arrested Russian national Alexander Pushkarer at a shop on the Patong beach road at about 7pm. “We were informed by one of our officers that a foreigner was working illegally at a shop,” Capt Angkarn Yasanop of Phuket Immigration told the Phuket Gazette.
PHUKET: The earthquake off the northern tip of Sumatra this morning was felt in Phuket, but was no cause for alarm, the head of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, Phuket office (DDPM-Phuket), San Janthawong, told the Phuket Gazette this morning. No tsunami alert has been issued for Phuket or any other province along the Andaman Coast. “The earthquake measured only 5.