The one page to save before you need it. Krabi is a safe, laid-back province, but accidents happen — a scooter spill on the Ao Nang road, a rip current, a fall on the Railay wall, a lost passport. Here are the numbers that actually get help fast, which hospitals have 24-hour ERs, and exactly what to do in the moments that count — including when you're out on the islands.
If you remember nothing else: 1669 for an ambulance, 191 for police, 199 for fire, and 1155 for the English-speaking Tourist Police — the line that will translate and coordinate everything else for you as a foreigner. Add them to your phone today, and if you spend time on the water add 1196 for the marine police. Below is the fuller list, Krabi's 24-hour emergency rooms, and step-by-step guidance for the situations visitors and residents actually face. For everyday medical care and insurance, see the Krabi healthcare & hospitals guide; for prevention, the safety guide.
These are national short codes that work across Thailand, Krabi and its islands included. The Tourist Police (1155) are staffed to help foreigners in English and are the best first call when you're unsure who to reach.
| Service | Number | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency medical / ambulance (national EMS) | 1669 | Free national line, some English. For serious injury, chest pain, a drowning, a bad fall or unconsciousness. |
| Police | 191 | All-purpose police emergency across Thailand. |
| Tourist Police (English-speaking) | 1155 | Your first call as a foreigner — scams, theft, accidents, disputes and translation help, 24/7. |
| Fire & rescue | 199 | Fire, building collapse and rescue. |
| Narenthorn EMS (medical dispatch) | 1554 | Alternative medical emergency line if 1669 is unreachable. |
| Marine / water police | 1196 | Boat accidents, sea rescue and incidents in the water — vital in a boat-and-island province like Krabi. |
| Tourist hotline (TAT) | 1672 | Not an emergency line, but a 24-hour English tourist information & assistance service. |
Know your nearest ER before you need one. Krabi's two full 24-hour ERs are both in Krabi Town — the government trauma centre at Krabi Hospital and the private, English-speaking Krabi Nakharin International Hospital. Ao Nang has clinics only, and the islands are further still, so distance to the ER is the thing to plan for here.
| Hospital / area | Area | Type | Notes | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Krabi Hospital | Krabi Town | Government | 24-hour ER — the province's main public hospital and trauma centre, where serious cases are stabilised | +66 75 626 700 |
| Krabi Nakharin International Hospital | Krabi Town | Private | 24-hour ER, international department, English-speaking staff and direct insurance billing | +66 75 626 555 |
| Ao Nang — clinics only | Ao Nang | Clinics | Walk-in clinics and pharmacies for minor issues; the nearest full ER is Krabi Town, roughly 20–30 minutes away | Call 1669 |
| Koh Lanta Hospital | Koh Lanta | Government | District hospital ER — stabilises and transfers serious cases by road/ferry to Krabi Town or by air to Phuket/Bangkok | +66 75 662 545 |
| Railay & the islands | Railay / Phi Phi / Hong | Boat access only | Small clinics only; serious cases are evacuated by boat to Ao Nang, then by road to Krabi Town — factor the extra time | Call 1669 / 1196 |
For a life-threatening emergency, call 1669 rather than driving. For serious-but-stable injuries, a Grab, taxi or songthaew to the nearest ER in Krabi Town is often faster than waiting for an ambulance on a beach or island road.
Motorbike crashes are the single most common serious emergency for visitors to Krabi. If it happens, work through this in order.
Get to safety first. Move yourself and the bike out of live traffic if you can — the road between Krabi Town and Ao Nang and the hill routes to the beaches are fast and drivers may not see a downed rider.
Call 1669 for an ambulance if anyone is seriously hurt, or 191 for police. For a foreigner-friendly English response, 1155 (Tourist Police) will help coordinate and translate.
For non-critical injuries it is often faster to take a Grab, taxi or songthaew straight to the nearest 24-hour ER in Krabi Town than to wait for an ambulance on a remote beach or island road.
Photograph everything before vehicles are moved if it's safe: the scene, both vehicles, plates, damage and any injuries. This matters for insurance and any dispute over fault.
Do not admit fault or sign anything you can't read. Wait for police and, if needed, the Tourist Police, and call your travel or health insurer's assistance line.
Check your cover now, not later: many travel policies exclude motorbike injuries unless you hold the correct licence and were wearing a helmet. Keep your policy's 24-hour assistance number saved.
Krabi is a province of beaches, longtails and islands, and the sea is its most underestimated danger — especially in monsoon season. Rip currents, boat incidents and the distance to help are the ones to know.
If you see someone in trouble in the surf, do not swim out after them unless you are trained — rip-current rescues drown rescuers every year. Throw or extend something that floats and get help.
Call 1669 for an ambulance and 1196 for the marine police for any sea, longtail, speedboat or ferry incident. Krabi's islands are reached only by boat, so give responders a clear landmark and, if you can, a GPS pin.
For a rescued swimmer who has inhaled water, insist on hospital assessment even if they seem fine: secondary drowning can develop hours later. Head to a 24-hour ER in Krabi Town.
Obey the flags and the boatmen. Andaman rip currents and swells peak in the May–October monsoon, when longtail and island crossings are also rougher — many incidents happen when swimmers or day-trippers ignore a red flag or a cancelled-crossing warning.
Remember the distance. On Railay, Koh Lanta or the outer islands, help arrives by boat — a stable-but-serious injury can take longer to reach an ER than on the mainland, so err toward evacuating early rather than waiting.
Railay and Tonsai make Krabi a world climbing destination, which brings a hazard few other Thai provinces share. Climb smart.
Railay and Tonsai are among the world's great climbing spots, and falls, abseiling errors and heat exhaustion on the wall are Krabi's most distinctive rescue calls. Climb with a reputable operator, check your own knots and never climb unroped over rock or water without training.
For a fall or a stranded climber, call 1669 (medical) and, if it's a deep-water solo or cliff-over-sea incident, 1196 (marine police) — access to many crags is by boat, so responders may need to come by longtail.
Heat and dehydration cause as many Railay call-outs as falls: climb early or late, carry more water than you think you need, and get out of the sun at the first sign of dizziness, cramp or a pounding head.
Confirm your travel insurance actually covers rock climbing and abseiling before you tie in — many standard policies class it as a hazardous activity and exclude it. Keep the assistance number on your phone.
A lost passport is stressful but routine to fix — as long as you do it in the right order.
Report it immediately to the Tourist Police (1155) or the nearest police station and get a written police report — you cannot get a replacement travel document or leave the country without it.
Contact your embassy or consulate in Bangkok (or your country's nearest honorary consul, several of which sit in Phuket) to arrange an emergency passport or travel document. Take the police report, photos and any ID copy you have.
Then visit Krabi Immigration in Krabi Town to re-stamp your visa/entry status into the new document — a lost passport also loses your entry stamp and TM card, which you must replace before departure.
Keep digital and paper copies of your passport photo page, visa and TM30/entry card somewhere separate from the original — it makes replacement far faster. Store a copy in the cloud too.
Krabi has no foreign consulates. Most countries' full embassies are in Bangkok, and the nearest honorary consuls tend to be in Phuket — among them the UK, several European and Nordic nations, and others — who can help in emergencies such as serious accidents, deaths and lost passports. Honorary consuls have limited hours and services; for anything urgent, call your Bangkok embassy's 24-hour emergency line first and they will direct you.
Useful when it isn't a 999-moment — immigration errands, airport queries, traffic matters and tourist assistance.
| Service | Number |
|---|---|
| Krabi Immigration Office (Krabi Town) | +66 75 611 350 |
| Krabi Airport (KBV) | +66 75 701 590 |
| Traffic police | 1197 |
| Highway police | 1193 |
| Consumer / tourist complaints (TAT hotline) | 1672 |
Dial 1669 for an ambulance and emergency medical services, 191 for police, 199 for fire and rescue, and 1155 for the English-speaking Tourist Police — who are the best first call for most foreigner situations because they translate and coordinate with the other services. For sea, longtail and island incidents, call the marine police on 1196. These are national short codes that work anywhere in Thailand, including all of Krabi and its islands.
The two main 24-hour ERs are both in Krabi Town: Krabi Hospital, the large government trauma centre where serious cases are stabilised, and Krabi Nakharin International Hospital, a private hospital with an international department, English-speaking staff and direct insurance billing that is usually the smoothest option for foreigners. Ao Nang has only clinics, so its nearest full ER is Krabi Town, about 20–30 minutes away. Koh Lanta has a district hospital that stabilises and transfers, and Railay and the islands have only small clinics — serious cases there are evacuated by boat.
For life-threatening emergencies — unconsciousness, severe bleeding, chest pain, a drowning or a bad fall — call 1669 and let trained paramedics come. But for injuries that are serious yet stable, taking a Grab, taxi or songthaew straight to the nearest 24-hour ER in Krabi Town is often faster than waiting for an ambulance on a remote beach or island road. Because Ao Nang, Railay and the islands are all some distance from the ER, know your route to Krabi Town before you need it.
Move out of traffic, then call 1669 for an ambulance if anyone is hurt or 1155 for English-speaking Tourist Police help. Photograph the scene, both vehicles, plates and any damage before anything is moved, don't admit fault or sign documents you can't read, and call your insurer's assistance line. Remember that many travel policies won't pay motorbike claims unless you held the correct licence and wore a helmet — check that today, not after a crash.
Railay, Tonsai and islands like Phi Phi and the Hong group have no road access — help arrives and patients leave by boat. Call 1669 for medical help and 1196 for the marine police, give a clear landmark or GPS pin, and expect longer response and evacuation times than on the mainland. Small clinics can give first aid, but serious cases are taken by boat to Ao Nang and then by road to Krabi Town, or airlifted to Phuket or Bangkok. On the islands especially, evacuate early rather than waiting to see if an injury settles.
Report it to the Tourist Police (1155) or a police station and get a written police report — you need it to replace the document and to leave the country. Then contact your embassy in Bangkok or your country's nearest honorary consul (several are in Phuket) to arrange an emergency passport, and afterwards visit Krabi Immigration in Krabi Town to re-stamp your visa and entry status into the new passport, since a lost passport also loses your entry stamp and TM card. Keeping copies of everything makes the whole process much faster.
The Tourist Police line (1155) is staffed to help foreigners in English and is your safest first call. The general lines (1669, 191, 199) may have limited English, so if you can, ask a Thai speaker nearby to help, or call 1155 and let them coordinate. Krabi Nakharin International Hospital in Krabi Town has English-speaking staff and an international department, which is another reason it is often the smoothest option for foreigners in a medical emergency.
Settling in? Pair this with the Krabi healthcare guide, the safety guide and our relocation guides.
Primary and official sources are cited above. Government rules, fees and procedures in Thailand change over time and vary by office; always confirm current requirements with the relevant authority before relying on them. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.
Krabi Town keeps you minutes from the province's 24-hour ERs; Ao Nang, Railay and the islands trade that for the view. Match your home to how you actually live — and where help is fastest.
General information only, not medical, legal, immigration or emergency advice. Phone numbers, hospital services and consular arrangements change — verify a number before you rely on it, and in any real emergency call the national short codes (1669, 191, 199, 1155, 1196) first and follow the instructions of on-the-ground responders and authorities.
Hero photo by Erik Mclean on Pexels.