Aussies Seriously Hurt in Rock City Patong Melee
UPDATE
Patong police have arrested one person - believed to be a member of a nightclub's security staff - in connection with the brawl early on Monday.
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Original Report
PHUKET: Three Australian tourists have been injured in a wild Phuket brawl early today that also involved security staff at a popular Patong nightspot.
Superintendent Colonel Arayapan Pukbuakao of Kathu Police Station, which oversees Patong, the nightlife capital on Phuket's west coast, confirmed that the brawl had taken place.
The colonel was in a meeting late today at Phuket Police Headquarters in Phuket City with Phuket Police Commander Major General Chonsit Wadhnawarangkun.
The brawl took place outside Rock City, the most prominent of several nightspots in Rat-U-Tit 200 Pi Road, at the top of the t-intersection with Soi Bangla, Patong's famous walking street.
Phuketwan has yet to confirm initial reports that two of the Australians were seriously injured, and that one man, said to have been struck in the face with a bar stool, may require plastic surgery. A second man is reported to have required many stitches to wounds.
It is not known whether security camera footage captured the brawl.
The Australians, all large men, were reported to have been celebrating a birthday. They had been drinking.
As many as 15 locals are reported to have been involved in the brawl, Phuketwan has been told.
While the reasons for the brawl remain unclear, the outcome is likely to reflect poorly on Patong and its tourism reputation.
Honorary consuls have been at pains in past incidents to make the point that tourists do sometimes start trouble, but in Patong, the retribution from locals is often severe.
Major General Chonsit's predecessor, Major General Pekad Tantipong, has previously urged tuk-tuk drivers and bar staff to call in police rather than carry out their own rough justice.
In February last year, two Australians in a brawl with Patong locals were knifed and one was stabbed close to the heart in an incident described as attempted murder.
The wounded Australians left Phuket rather than face a counter-suit by their attackers that would have obliged them to stay on Phuket.
A German expat resident of Phuket, Kurt Trotnow, 53, was bashed into a coma in August when a dispute with a Patong tuk-tuk driver over an extra 100 baht for a fare quickly escalated into a ''dog pack attack.'' Mr Trotnow was lucky to survive.
In October, two Italian tourists earned the ire of locals in Soi Seadragon - a lane of bars that runs off Soi Bangla. One of the tourists was put in hospital after being hit with a golf club.
Police say the number of incidents involving drunken tourists in Patong has increased alarmingly.
Two weeks ago, Major General Chonsit called on venue owners to control their staff, and to make sure there were no drugs or weapons on their premises.
His call followed one of the nastiest of incidents - this time not in Patong but in an after-hours pub in Phuket City, on the other side of the island.
Between six and eight staff members at the pub participated in an axe attack on Phuket resort owner-manager Vorasit ''Wan'' Issara, who managed to make sure his friend, Hollywood actor Jeremy Renner, was ushered to safety as blows rained down on him.
Even though Mr Renner was unharmed, the attack made international headlines. In the wake of their son's fortunate survival from the axe wounds, his parents Srivara and Songkran later called for an end to the ''social environment that allows this kind of thing to happen on Phuket.''
Khun Wan told Phuketwan that one of the things he found shocking was that he gained the impression his attackers thought he was Korean.
Wild Phuket Brawl: Aussies Seriously Hurt in Rock City Patong Melee - Phuket Wan