Every emergency and important phone number a foreigner in Thailand actually needs — 191 police, 1669 ambulance, 199 fire, 1155 Tourist Police in English, plus disaster, marine, traffic and embassy lines — with how to dial them, what to say, and where English is available. Save the top four in your phone today; you never want to be looking this up mid-crisis.
191 — police / any emergency · 1669 — ambulance & medical · 199 — fire · 1155 — Tourist Police (English). All free, all dialled with no area code from any phone, even one with no credit. If language is the barrier, call 1155 — they speak English and connect you to the right service.
Thailand uses short, three-to-four-digit emergency numbers rather than one universal code, but only four really matter for day-one safety. Program them into your phone — with clear labels — the moment you arrive, because a crisis is the worst time to be searching. None of this is legal or medical advice; it is a free reference, and services and numbers can change, so verify locally where it counts.
The single number to call for any crime, accident, threat or general emergency anywhere in Thailand. Operators may have limited English, so speak slowly and give your location first.
The nationwide EMS line run under the National Institute for Emergency Medicine — free emergency ambulance dispatch. Use for any medical emergency: heart attack, serious injury, accident. English is limited but improving; state location and the nature of the emergency.
The dedicated fire-brigade line for fires and rescue situations. 191 will also relay fire emergencies, but 199 reaches fire services directly.
Purpose-built for foreigners: English (and other languages) is available, and they coordinate with regular police, hospitals and your embassy. Often the best first call if you are a visitor and unsure who to ring.
Every number on this page is dialled exactly as shown from any Thai mobile or landline — no area code, and emergency calls connect even from a phone with no credit. Calling a Thai number from a foreign phone or messaging app means adding +66 and dropping any leading zero. Because callbacks, banking and ride or hospital apps all hinge on your local number in a crisis, getting a registered Thai SIM is an early relocation errand, not an afterthought — see our SIM card & mobile data guide. Keep your phone charged and your home address saved in Thai script, since that single detail speeds up every emergency call.
Dispatchers need location first — it is the hardest thing to convey across a language gap and the most important. A simple script:
If your Thai is limited, hand the phone to a local — a condo guard, hotel receptionist or passer-by — or call 1155 and let the Tourist Police translate and relay. Dropping a pin in your maps app and knowing your address in Thai turns a panicked call into a quick one.
Beyond the core four, these numbers cover specific situations a long-stay resident may meet. Most have limited English — lean on 1155 or 1672 if you get stuck.
Tourist information, advice and help in English — daily, roughly 8am to 8pm. Not an emergency line, but invaluable for guidance, scams and where to turn.
Bangkok metropolitan ambulance dispatch coordinating the city's hospital EMS network. In Bangkok this and 1669 both reach emergency medical help.
The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation hotline — floods, storms, landslides and large-scale incidents.
For emergencies on the water, at the coast, on islands or involving boats and ferries.
Accidents and emergencies on inter-province highways and motorways.
Help and incident reporting on Bangkok's tolled expressway network.
Report a stolen car or motorbike to the national anti-theft center.
Ministry of Social Development and Human Security — help for vulnerable people, domestic violence, trafficking and social crises, around the clock.
The Tourist Police (1155) exist specifically to help foreigners and operate in English and other languages. They are the right call for visitor problems — scams, disputes, lost documents, feeling unsafe — and they coordinate with regular police, hospitals and embassies. The regular police (191) handle all emergencies nationwide but may have limited English. Rule of thumb: for an immediate life-or-death emergency dial 191 or 1669 first; when language or uncertainty is the obstacle, dial 1155. Both are free. Knowing the difference avoids the common newcomer freeze of not knowing who to ring — and ties into staying safe day to day, covered in our Bangkok safety guide and scams guide.
Your embassy or consulate is not an emergency service — for immediate danger you still call 191 or 1669 — but it is essential for consular crises: arrest, serious hospitalisation, a death in the family, a lost or stolen passport, or evacuation guidance.
For the wider picture on passports, visas-on-record and consular paperwork, see our embassy & passport services guide.
A free 1669 public ambulance reaches you anywhere, but in a major city a private-hospital ambulance — call the hospital’s own number directly — can sometimes arrive faster and take you straight to a private facility (it is not free). If you have health insurance, knowing in advance which hospital your policy favours, and saving that hospital’s number, removes a decision from a stressful moment. Thailand’s private hospitals are excellent and used to foreign patients. Our healthcare & hospitals guide and health insurance guide cover how the system works and how to be covered before an emergency, not during one.
Five minutes of prep beats any list. Make a note in your phone — and a paper copy in your wallet — with: the four core numbers; your embassy 24h line; your preferred hospital and its number; your condo/building address in Thai and the building office or guard number; your insurance policy number and emergency assistance line; and an emergency contact back home. Share your live location with someone you trust when travelling. This single card is the most useful thing in this guide.
Knowing who to call is step one. Step two is living somewhere that makes everyday safety easy — managed buildings with 24-hour security, in areas close to top hospitals and transit.
General reference only — not legal, medical or safety advice. Emergency numbers, operating hours and English-language availability in Thailand can change, and embassy contact details vary by country; verify the current numbers with official Thai government, Tourism Authority of Thailand, your hospital and your embassy sources before relying on any figure above. In a life-threatening emergency, call the relevant Thai emergency number immediately. BAANLYY never takes paid placement.