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 differ 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 Phuket province.

They are in no particular order of importance but roughly in order of publishing. These are from Monday, July 3rd, 2023, to Sunday, July 9th, 2023.

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

1. A minivan driver allegedly threatened a foreign passenger with an iron bar in Phuket Old Town. A minivan driver has been charged with threatening a Singaporean passenger in Phuket Old Town which went viral thanks to a social media video that can be seen here. The minivan driver was fined 1,000 baht. Police also reported the incident to the Krabi Land Transport Office.

2. In total, there have been 64 deaths in four months from Phuket road accidents so far this year which is an increase from last year.

Of those, 24 were foreigners and most of them were Russian, followed by Myanmar.

3. A foreigner was allegedly trying to sell a fake gold watch for 50,000 baht in Thalang.

Tha Chatchai police did not identify the suspect.

4. Fifteen-gun shots were fired in broad daylight after an argument between Thais and a man from Myanmar in Kathu.

Five suspects were arrested after fifteen-gun shots were fired in broad daylight in Kathu in a residential area.

The shooting came after the three teenagers were arguing with another party in a road rage incident. They claimed that the other party attacked them first.

5. An unidentified foreign man climbed Phuket’s most famous temple. He was threatening to jump from a pagoda for several hours and finally jumped after trying to fight rescuers atop the temple.

A 35 year-old Russian man died after he jumped from a pagoda despite efforts to save him at a famous Temple in Chalong. His friends told Thai media that he had drank some water that was possibly mixed with unknown substances before he started to hallucinate.

If you or someone you know is feeling depressed please reach out for help. The Pattaya News suggests the Samaritans of Thailand which can be reached here:

https://www.facebook.com/Samaritans.Thailand/

That’s all for this week, as always thanks for your support!