diff --git a/src/OutputFileHandler.cc b/src/OutputFileHandler.cc
index 47449b50c55e88b6079b13b11408bd67aed0b4db..e8f45570aab43b4eda765d5743496a643badd845 100644
--- a/src/OutputFileHandler.cc
+++ b/src/OutputFileHandler.cc
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ void OutputFileHandler::close_and_rename::operator()() const {
       files_to_close_.pop(outputFile);
     } catch (tbb::user_abort& e) {
       LOG(ERROR) << "Exception caught when trying to pop files to close queue.";
-      break;
+      return;
     }
     LOG(TRACE) << "popping file: " << outputFile.getFileName() << " for closing, queue size now "
                << files_to_close_.size();