US shoots down Chinese spy balloon over Atlantic waters

The US Department of Defense has shot down the Chinese balloon that it accused of espionage this Saturday around half past two in the afternoon on the East coast (half eight in the afternoon in the Spanish peninsular time), over Atlantic waters in the vicinity of the State of South Carolina.

Approximately an hour earlier, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), responsible for civil airspace, had ordered the suspension of air traffic at three airports in the area to "support Defense in a national security effort."

“We are going to take care of him”, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, had promised this Saturday, answering with this single sentence a question from the journalists who accompanied him on a visit, scheduled at the last minute, to the city of Syracuse, in New York State.

He did not offer further details.

The Federal Aviation Authority, in charge of the control of civil airspace, issued this Saturday a notice of closure of three airports in the area where the balloon was most recently sighted, and qualified that the reason was "to help the Department of Defense in a national security effort.

The three airports affected have been Charleston International, Myrtle Beach International and Wilmington International, in the states of South and North Carolina.

The notice already pointed to the intention of the Department of Defense to try to demolish the balloon when the device flew over the waters of the Atlantic and the risk to the population on the surface was reduced.

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