RUSSIAN roulette took on a new form today - Phuket Roulette - as officials and an embarrassed tour company attempted to sort out a package holiday that went wrong for 42 tourists from Moscow.

Twenty-eight of the group from Russia were so unhappy with their no-beach package accommodation on Phuket that after one night they went to the Russian Consulate, where they staged a protest.

The tourists were led to believe they were headed for a ''beach resort'' but they were taken to the Metropole Hotel, in the commercial heart of Phuket City.

The group all stayed one night there before the 28 checked out and mounted a protest.

Today a number of local authorities stepped in to help and the company responsible for the tourists on the island, Asia World Enterprises Phuket, was trying to deal with individual cases.

A lawyer from the island's Provincial Administration headquarters joined talks at the Metropole today with representatives from the Tourism Authority of Thailand,Tourist Police, Asia World Enterprises, and about 10 of the disgruntled tourists.

The tourists had booked a Fortuna package through a Moscow agency that included the charter flight, accommodation and food and transport to and from the airport, according to Asia World manager Chaiyut Disarak.

He said today that the word ''Fortuna'' designated the hotel as a three-star hotel. It was the name of the package, not the name of an actual resort.

''I am not sure that the guests fully understood what they had paid for,'' he said. The Metropole had been told that although the 28 had checked out, their rooms should be held for them, he said.

All the group of 42 stayed at the Metropole again last night, he said.

The group had now been given the option of sorting out their accommodation individually at their own cost, but the Metropole rooms would remain available for them.

Some of the people are due to return to Moscow from February 20, and others are booked to stay another week longer.

Members of the group said they had been promised a ''beach resort'' but Khun Chaiyut said there was nothing in the literature for the Fortuna package that specified the location of the hotel.

Asia World offered a free shuttle bus to take the group to Patong today. The bus was due to head for Patong from Phuket City this afternoon and return to the Metropole at 9pm.

''I don't want to say that anyone is at fault,'' Khun Chaiyut said. ''It could be the customers have misunderstood, or the counter sales staff have not given clear information, or the group have simply been unhappy with what they have been given in the package.''