An F-16 intercepted an aircraft in restricted airspace over New York City as US President Joe Biden and other world leaders addressed the United Nations General Assembly, according to the North American Aerospace Defence Command.

Authorities added that the aircraft was escorted out of the area “without incident”. The intercepted aircraft was described as “a small, single-engine general aviation aircraft”, which violated flying restrictions. The situation developed around 2 pm ET on Tuesday.

The F-16 jet was responding to Cessna 182 that flew around into a restricted air space around 2 p.m. during the UN General Assembly, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said.

US media reports suggest that the aircraft, which is being identified as Cessna 182, landed about half an hour later.

Some social media users were able to capture the incident on camera and described wrote, “Very low, very loud turns 

from what looked like an #f16 #nyc to (too) fast for my camera…got some sound!” 

Another social media user wrote, “I’m used to the sound of fighter jets back home in Ohio. When I lived near an Air Force base. Hearing them fly around my apartment in NYC feels massively different and it’s making me very uncomfortable.”

The news comes as a large gathering of world leaders were present at the United Nations headquarters in New York City to attend the 76th session of the General Assembly on Tuesday. Hours before the incident, US President Joe Biden gave his debut address at the multilateral organisation after taking office earlier this year.

Biden spoke on key issues like COVID-19, de-nuclearisation, disarmament, the withdrawal from Afghanistan, heightened sense of diplomacy and international engagement. Other speakers who took the stage on Tuesday were Iran’s President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro.