diff --git a/kiwixapp.cpp b/kiwixapp.cpp
index 060282c..7732617 100644
--- a/kiwixapp.cpp
+++ b/kiwixapp.cpp
@@ -19,7 +19,11 @@ void KiwixApp::openZimFile(const QString &zimfile)
         delete reader;
     const std::string zimfile_ = zimfile.toLocal8Bit().constData();
     std::cout << "Opening " << zimfile_ << std::endl;
-    reader = new kiwix::Reader(zimfile_);
+    try {
+        reader = new kiwix::Reader(zimfile_);
+    } catch (...) {
+        reader = nullptr;
+    }
 }
 
 kiwix::Reader* KiwixApp::getReader()
diff --git a/kiwixschemehandler.cpp b/kiwixschemehandler.cpp
index c4d6b39..d4b1013 100644
--- a/kiwixschemehandler.cpp
+++ b/kiwixschemehandler.cpp
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ KiwixSchemeHandler::requestStarted(QWebEngineUrlRequestJob *request)
     zim::Article art;
     std::cout << "Url is " << url << std::endl;
     auto reader = static_cast<KiwixApp*>(KiwixApp::instance())->getReader();
+    if ( reader == nullptr) {
+        request->fail(QWebEngineUrlRequestJob::UrlNotFound);
+        return;
+    }
     if ( !reader->getArticleObjectByDecodedUrl(url, art))
     {
         url = "A/" + url;