diff --git a/src/libespeak-ng/readclause.c b/src/libespeak-ng/readclause.c
index 25d51896..64551556 100644
--- a/src/libespeak-ng/readclause.c
+++ b/src/libespeak-ng/readclause.c
@@ -614,7 +614,9 @@ int ReadClause(Translator *tr, char *buf, short *charix, int *charix_top, int n_
 						return terminator;
 					}
 					c1 = ' ';
-					c2 = GetC();
+					if (!Eof()) {
+						c2 = GetC();
+					}
 					continue;
 				}
 			}
diff --git a/tests/ssml/malformed-tag1.expected b/tests/ssml/malformed-tag1.expected
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8b137891
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ssml/malformed-tag1.expected
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+
diff --git a/tests/ssml/malformed-tag1.ssml b/tests/ssml/malformed-tag1.ssml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e383d9be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ssml/malformed-tag1.ssml
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+<<foo