diff --git a/src/parser_xml.c b/src/parser_xml.c
index 3ce2611..69d1b45 100644
--- a/src/parser_xml.c
+++ b/src/parser_xml.c
@@ -744,6 +744,7 @@
             while (xmlctx->status == LYXML_ELEMENT) {
                 ret = lydxml_subtree_r(lydctx, NULL, &anchor, NULL);
                 if (ret) {
+                    lyd_free_siblings(anchor);
                     break;
                 }
             }