Water invaded homes and shops in Bangkok after torrential downpours triggered flash floods in many areas in the capital on Tuesday.

As residents were fretting over damaged belongings and cleaning up, one man took an amazing dip and managed to put a smile on glum faces with his antics.

To amuse his Facebook fans, Ui Ratchasit Ketkeaw posted a video of himself swimming across a flooded street after making a dramatic dive.

At first glance, it might not seem like a feat deserving of praise.

Take a closer look and you’ll understand why netizens are marvelling at how he managed to splash across the lane like an aquatic star and then back, in water that seemed to be several inches high only.

And to cap it all, he let out a whoop as he raised his hands in victory after his caper.

“This year’s championship must be mine,” he declared in the caption for his clip.

Indeed, he has won – sort of. He became famous as the ‘Soi Diver”  after the video went viral. It has garnered 3.3 million views and has been shared more than 52,300 times as at this afternoon.

“We have nothing but praise for his expert flutter kicks, perfectly executed flip-turn and celebratory fist pump accompanying his feat,” said Khaosod news site.

So far, our ‘soi’ swimmer has not mentioned on Facebook about the scrapes and bruises he could have suffered while trying to paddle in very shallow water. And thank goodness, he didn’t smash his skull when he dived in.

chenj@sph.com.sg

SEMARANG, INDONESIA – An Indonesian hamlet dubbed “the rainbow village” after being given a makeover in a kaleidoscope of colours is attracting hordes of visitors and has become an internet sensation.

The collection of about 200 modest homes on a hillside above a river used to be a typical, low-income Indonesian neighbourhood that was filthy and gloomy.

But residents of the Wonosari community in Semarang decided an extreme makeover was needed, and received money from the local government and several companies to carry out the project.

The houses were re-painted in a dizzying array of colours during a month-long overhaul which cost about US$200,000, and the polluted river nearby was also cleaned up.

The local mayor opened the newly decorated hamlet on Java island to the public in mid-April and the community quickly became a local landmark known as “the rainbow village”.

The buildings – many of which are decorated with art such as pictures of angels’ wings and whales – can be seen for miles around, climbing up the hillside like a gigantic staircase.

Domestic and foreign visitors have been flocking to the village to snap pictures, which have been rapidly spreading on Instagram and Facebook.

“This is very special, extremely creative,” Maya Susanti, an Indonesian visitor who came to the village with her friends told AFP.

“The village used to look plain but now there are so many good spots for taking pictures.” Community leader Yosep Tri Prawoko added: “Every single alleyway has become a favourite spot for a photoshoot, it’s great.” Villagers are enjoying the tourism boom sparked by the makeover.

Surani, a local flower seller who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said local people were feeling the benefits: “I hope our livelihoods keep on getting better.” The makeover and flow of visitors has also encouraged residents to keep the community clean, and rubbish bins have been put up around the hamlet.

MARAWI, Philippines – Philippine troops have killed 89 Islamist militants during more than a week of urban battles but a final showdown is expected to be fierce as the gunmen protect their leaders and hold hostages, authorities said on Wednesday (May 31).

Attack helicopters fired rockets on Wednesday morning into parts of Marawi, a Muslim city in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines, that were still controlled by the militants fighting under the black flag of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group.

President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law across the entire southern region of Mindanao in response to the crisis, which he described as the start of a major campaign by ISIS to establish a foothold in the Philippines.

Eighty-nine militants had been killed in the fighting and the amount of territory in the city that the remaining gunmen controlled had been cut to just 10 per cent, military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla said on Wednesday.

However Padilla warned of more intense battles ahead, with the military believing three of the militants’ main leaders were likely still in the city.

“That 10 per cent is most likely the area that is heavily guarded and defended by any armed men if they are protecting any individual of high value,” Padilla said.

The militants are also holding an unknown number of civilians hostage, according to Padilla and other authorities.

They initially took a priest and up to 14 other people hostage at the start of the crisis.

A video of the priest appeared on social media on Tuesday (May 30), in which he repeated the militants’ demands to withdraw and said his captors were holding 240 people hostage.

Padilla said the number of people cited in the video as being held hostage could not be verified.

He insisted the release of the footage showed the militants were becoming increasingly desperate and said security forces would not back down.

“They are trapped, they are contained, they are in areas that they will never come up alive unless they surrender,” Padilla said.

Another major complicating factor was the safety of about 2,000 residents who the local government said remained trapped in the militant-controlled areas, with troops, police and aid workers trying to rescue them.

“It was a terrible situation. We did not have anything to eat,” Jenita Abanilla, 47, a laundrywoman, told reporters at an evacuation centre in Marawi on Wednesday shortly after heavily armed police brought her to safety.

Abanilla said she, her eight-year-old son, her husband plus eight other neighbours and relatives had often hid kneeling, with their faces on the floor of her house.

“We covered the mouths of our children. We were afraid the gunmen would come in and kill us,” she said, adding they were also scared of being hit by military bombs.

Padilla said on Wednesday the militants had murdered 19 civilians but insisted that the military’s “precision airstrikes” had not killed any of the trapped residents.

Twenty-one security forces had also died, Padilla said, bringing the combined death toll to 129.

The clashes erupted when security forces raided a house to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, a veteran Filipino militant regarded as ISIS’ leader in the Philippines and who is on the US government’s list of most-wanted terrorists.

Authorities said they were taken by surprise when dozens of gunmen emerged to protect Hapilon and then went on a rampage through Marawi, the Philippines’ main Islamic city with a population of 200,000.

Hapilon was being protected by members of the local Maute group, a small band of militants which has declared allegiance to ISIS, according to the government.

Malaysian, Singaporean, Indonesian and other fighters had been involved in the unrest, according to the military.

Hapilon and the two Maute leaders – brothers after whose surname the group is named – were still believed to be in Marawi, local military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jo-ar Herrera told reporters.

A Muslim separatist rebellion in the southern Philippines has killed more than 120,000 people since the 1970s.

The main Muslim rebel groups have signed accords with the government aimed at forging lasting peace, giving up their separatist ambitions in return for autonomy.

The Maute and other hardline groups have rejected the peace process.

MUMBAI – Relatives of 10 foreigners alleged to have been murdered in Goa, including British teenager Scarlett Keeling, have written to India’s prime minister demanding an investigation into what they claim are cover-ups by police.

Minna Pirhonen – the mother of Finnish national Felix Dahl, who was found dead in the tourist state in January 2015 – said on Wednesday (May 31) that the families had couriered a letter to Narendra Modi’s office last week.

In it, they demand an “unbiased and independent” probe by India’s Supreme Court, the highest judicial body, into the Goa police’s handling of the 10 deaths that all occurred since 2005.

“The quality of the work of the police in Goa should be investigated. Instead of investigating the murders and killings, the local police want to cover up the truth,” read the letter, a copy of which has been seen by AFP.

The open letter, dated May 21, claims the investigation “is needed to reveal the connections between the locals, the police in Goa, drug mafia and politicians and their involvement in the deaths of tourists and locals in Goa”.

The deaths of several foreigners in Goa over the last decade or so, many in suspicious circumstances or from drug or alcohol abuse, have blighted the picturesque state’s reputation as a tourist haven.

The most high profile was that of 15-year-old Keeling, whose bruised and semi-naked body was found in shallow water on a beach in 2008. Her case made international headlines and cast a spotlight on the seedy side of Goa.

It also drew attention to India’s sluggish justice system. Last September, eight years after Keeling’s death, two Indian men were cleared of raping and murdering her.

Police initially dismissed her death as an accidental drowning but opened a murder investigation after Keeling’s mother, Fiona MacKeown, pushed for a second autopsy.

That further examination proved her daughter had drugs in her system and had been sexually assaulted, and revealed Keeling had suffered more than 50 injuries.

Pirhonen, whose22-year-old son Felix was found with skull wounds and whose death was attributed to an accidental fall by local police, signed the letter on behalf of relatives of nine other victims, including Keeling.

The others were Caitanya Holt, James Durkin, Kyle Arndt, Denyse Sweeney, Stephen Bennett, Martin Neighbour, Michael Harvey and Jonathan Burbank.

A right to information request revealed last month that 245 foreign tourists have died in Goa over the past 12 years, according to the Hindustan Times newspaper. Deaths are often classified as accidental – usually drowning – or natural.

In 2016, Goa police said Holt, an American, had died when he fell into a rice paddy and inhaled muddy water while being chased by locals.

In March, the body of 28-year-old Danielle McLaughlin, a dual British-Irish citizen, was discovered naked in a field. Police have charged 23-year-old Indian man Vikat Bhagat with her rape and murder.

Goa police and tourism officials were not immediately available for comment on the letter to Modi.

JAKARTA  – Indonesia’s army and police said they have taken measures to prevent the infiltration and expansion of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) network into Indonesia amid the militant insurgency in southern Philippines.

“We always keep a guard against any activities that enable the presence of terrorists in the country,” Army spokesperson Col. Alfret Denny Tuejeh said as quoted by kompas.com at the Army Media Centre in Central Jakarta on Wednesday (May 31).

Alfret said Indonesian authorities had beefed up territorial defence in Ambon, Maluku, and North Sulawesi as media outlets reported ISIS fighters had attempted to occupy Marawi.

“Shortly after the incident, the commanders of the Merdeka Military Area Command [KODAM]in Manado and the Kodam Pattimura in Ambon immediately texted me, informing me what had happened in Marawi.

They later made statements in the media that we had to anticipate the possible infiltration of ISIS jihadists into Indonesia via Maluku and North Sumatra,” said Alfret.

He refused to give details on measures the Army had prepared except for saying that it had coordinated with military commands in areas across Indonesia while monitoring developments in the Philippines.

In North Sulawesi, hundreds of Mobile Brigade (Brimob) personnel from the North Sulawesi Police have been deployed to secure Indonesia-Philippine border areas in Sangihe and Talaud Islands regencies, police spokesman Ibrahim Tompo said.

“To anticipate developments and threats following the Marawi incident, the North Sulawesi Police have launched a territorial security operation codenamed Operation Aman Nusa 3,” he said.

Launched on May 29, Operation Aman Nusa 3 aims to secure the waters between Indonesia and the Philippines. Tompo said Brimob personnel would carry out maritime security operations and patrols.

“They will also make routine visits to villages and fishing communities to detect and gather information [on potential security threats] and to monitor mass organisation activities. They will also coordinate with the Densus 88 counterterrorism squad to monitor radical movements,” said Tompo.

He added that the Brimob personnel would focus their sea patrol activities in the working areas of the Talaud Police and Sangihe Police. The team will be equipped with patrol vessels and weapons.

The Brimob personnel will be on duty for 90 days in Sangihe and Talaud.

“Around three months. If the situation returns to normal, they can go home earlier, but, if security threats develop, more personnel will be deployed,” said North Sulawesi Police deputy chief Brig.Gen. Refdi Andri.