Four Numbers to Put in Your Phone Before You Land
You do not need a 112. Thailand runs four numbers, they are free, and the one that matters most for a visitor is not the police.
Your phone is dead and you are in a hospital corridor in Phuket at two in the morning. The person you need to call speaks Thai, the front desk is not answering, and the one number you can remember is 112, which in Thailand is a European convention rather than a service. You stand there for a while, and then somebody walks past and asks what is wrong, and by the time you have described the problem in English the emergency has moved on without you.
Four numbers. That is the whole system. Put them in your phone tonight.
Last verified 5 September 2026.
The four
1669 for a medical emergency or an ambulance. This is the National Institute for Emergency Medicine, the national medical line, 24 hours, free, and it is the one that gets you an actual vehicle moving. If somebody is unconscious, injured, having a heart attack, or seriously ill, this is the number.
1155 for the Tourist Police. 24 hours, nationwide, and the operators speak English, Chinese and Japanese. This is the most useful number in Thailand for a visitor and it is not the one people reach for first, because it sounds like a police number and everybody assumes police is the top of the list.
191 for the police. 24 hours. A crime in progress, a road accident, a threat. In a real emergency, this dispatches faster than the Tourist Police line because it is the general service rather than the one handling your category.
199 for fire and rescue. 24 hours. Fire, and people trapped.
911 also works and is routed to the appropriate service. It is a courtesy accommodation for people who reflexively dial it. It is not the number to rely on, because a routing layer is one more thing between you and a vehicle, and the direct numbers cost you nothing to save.
Why 1155 is the one to save first
It is free from any phone, and it works without credit in your account. So does 191, so does 1669, but the practical point is that an empty phone balance is not a reason to fail to call for help.
The Tourist Police handle exactly the problems a visitor has: theft, scams, a business refusing to return your deposit, a driver overcharging, a bar that will not let you leave, a lost passport, and coordination with medical services when you cannot explain the problem yourself.
The language barrier is the real emergency. If you are in a provincial hospital and cannot describe a symptom in Thai, 1155 has an English speaker who can speak to the medical staff on your behalf, and that single call is worth more than every other piece of advice on this page. Call 1155 first when you cannot make yourself understood and 1669 second.
They want evidence. A Tourist Police report is frequently what an insurer needs before it will pay for a lost phone, a fraudulent rental, or a medical bill, and the police report is much harder to produce after the fact than at the time. Photos, screenshots, receipts, ticket numbers, vehicle registration plates: the more you have before you call, the more useful the call is.
Before you call anything
Know where you are. A hospital name, a hotel name, a soi and the nearest junction, a landmark. If you can send your location pin by message, send it. In a country where the same soi runs for three kilometres and there are three of them, "I am on the main road" is not a location.
Write down what happened, in order, with times. You will be asked for it and you will not remember it. The details that are useful are the ones nobody thinks of: what you were told, what was said in writing, who else was there, and whether anything was signed.
Keep the receipt for everything. This sounds obvious and it is the single thing that most often makes a dispute recoverable rather than lost.
Two other numbers worth having
1672, the Tourism Authority of Thailand information line, 08:00 to 20:00. Useful for "can I do this" questions and travel logistics, and the only one of these numbers that is not 24 hours.
1193, the highway police. Specifically for road incidents on a highway, which is a distinct problem from a city accident and involves a different service.
Know the nearest private hospital before you need it. Private hospitals in tourist areas generally have English-speaking staff, will stabilise you before discussing payment, and will deal with insurance. Public hospitals are considerably cheaper and considerably better than their reputation suggests. Both are 24 hours, both will treat a genuine emergency without demanding money up front, and both will settle up with you afterwards, expensively.
The whole system works. It is not complicated, it is free, and the failure mode is almost always that people do not know the numbers, or do not know which one is the right one, and lose twenty minutes finding out. That is the only part worth preparing for, and it takes a minute.
