A U.S. fighter jet crashed in a Bavarian forest in southern Germany on Tuesday but the pilot managed to eject and suffered only light injuries, police said.

Authorities sealed off the crash site near Engelmannsreuth in northern Bavaria and firefighters were trying to extinguish flames in the jet wreckage, a regional police spokeswoman said.

The reason for the crash remains unclear.

Local news portal nordbayern.de quoted a police official in nearby Pegnitz as saying the jet had taken off from the Grafenwoehr military training ground and subsequently crashed during a manoeuvre.