Phuket’s biggest stories from the last week: Bryde’s whale found deceased, cars allowed on Patong hill and more

Monday, 7 November 2022, 23:48

Hello, Phuket Express Readers and Supporters!

The following is our weekly feature in which we highlight the top local stories in our area of Phuket, from the past week. The number of stories differs from week to week.

These are chosen and curated by our editorial team and are designed for our readers to get a quick “catch-up” of important stories they may have missed. We publish many stories daily and it is easy to lose track of important events or changes in our area. We do national recaps in a separate article, this is only the top local stories in the Phuket province.

They are in no particular order of importance but roughly in order of publishing. These are from Monday, October 31st, 2022, to Sunday, November 6th, 2022.

Let’s get started and see what the top local stories were!

A huge, rare, Bryde’s whale was found dead at the Racha Island off of the Rawai sub-district, Mueang Phuket district.It was identified as a female Bryde’s whale at least 13 meters long. The whale had been dead for at least a month.
A plastic cup was found inside the dead Bryde’s whale in Rawai, Phuket.
The whale had severe decomposition and its cause of death is still unclear.
Flash floods hits Phuket last night after a short period of heavy rain causing chaos and damage.

Many residents who lived in houses and apartments were unable to move their cars before the flood.

A landslide was found on a road in Kamala after heavy rain hit Phuket last night and early this morning.

3. Two Russian nationals and one Thai died after a big bike, a motorbike, and a taxi car collided in Rawai.

The CCTV footage was later shown that the big bike which was driving at high speed crashed into the moving smaller motorbike and the parked taxi car.

4. Cars are now allowed to pass on the partially collapsed Patong Hill Road but only in the Patong to Kathu lane.

The Phuket Governor Naroong Woonciew has ordered to allow sedans, pickup trucks and minivans (small vehicles) to use the damaged Patong Hill but only one lane from Patong to Kathu since November 4th, 2022.

5. According to top Phuket tourism officials the Russian market has rebounded strongly recently and is expected to be the number one market for Phuket for Quarter 4, also called the high season.

6. Tourism leaders in Phuket have been speaking to the Thai government and airline industry executives to attempt to find solutions for what they say are expensive domestic flights.