A private plane “mistakenly” entered the airspace over the beach house where Joe Biden is spending the weekend, a White House official said Saturday, specifying that “it was not an attack.” “A precautionary measure was taken,” he noted.

The president and his wife Jill Biden were briefly evacuated before returning to their residence in the seaside resort of Rehoboth, located just under 200 km east of Washington. “They are safe,” said this official, who did not want to be quoted.

Shortly before 1 p.m. (5 p.m. GMT), a private plane entered restricted airspace over Rehoboth after mistakenly entering a secure area,” the Secret Service, the law enforcement body for US leaders, said in a statement.

The aircraft was “immediately escorted” out of restricted airspace.

“An initial investigation shows that the pilot was not using the correct radio channel”, “did not respect” the instructions issued by the authorities and “did not follow the announced route”, he said.

“The Secret Service will question the pilot,” the statement concluded.

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