SEOUL, South Korea -- A South Korean airport official said Saturday that airport staff shot and killed a dog belonging to a Thai Airways passenger after it got loose before being boarded onto a plane and ran onto a busy runway.

An official from Incheon Airport said that the response on Monday was standard procedure and inevitable because the dog could have threatened the safety of aircraft and passengers.

The official said the dog belonged to a passenger who was boarding a flight from Seoul to Bangkok. He couldn’t confirm whether the dog’s owner filed a complaint with airport management.

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“It seemed that airline workers didn’t properly close the dog’s cage, allowing it to escape just before being boarded,” said the airport official, who didn’t want to be named, citing office rules. “Our staff first ran after the dog trying to capture it, but they couldn’t. The dog had to be shot to prevent it from causing a serious safety accident.”

Thai Airways reportedly apologized and offered compensation to the dog’s owner.