What happened in history in Thailand

Boeing 767-3Z9ER, On May 26, 1991, Lauda Air Flight 004, broke up in midair over a remote area of Thailand due to an uncommanded deployment of a thrust reverser on one of the plane's engines, killing all 213 passengers and 10 crewmembers aboard. The flight, which originated at Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong, and made a stopover at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, was en route to Vienna International Airport, Vienna, Austria when the accident occurred.

On 14 May and 15 May 1997, the Thai baht was hit by massive speculative attacks.

On 30 June 1997, Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said that he would not devalue the baht.

Thailand lacked the foreign reserves to support the USD–Baht currency peg, and the Thai government was eventually forced to float the Baht, on 2 July 1997, allowing the value of the Baht to be set by the currency market. This caused a chain reaction of events, eventually culminating into a region-wide crisis.

On 11 August 1997, the IMF unveiled a rescue package for Thailand with more than $17 billion, subject to conditions such as passing laws relating to bankruptcy (reorganizing and restructuring) procedures and establishing strong regulation frameworks for banks and other financial institutions.

The IMF approved on 20 August 1997, another bailout package of $2.9 billion.

During a flight to Bangkok to attend a conference, Dr Urbani developed symptoms of SARS. He died of complication related to SARS on 29 March 2003 – a public health hero.