diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 1337db5d0731..3217b79426bf 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@ Changes for Crate
 Unreleased
 ==========
 
+ - Fix: In some cases a ``DROP TABLE`` statment does not delete all
+   partitions. Now it's possible to repeat the statement in order
+   to delete the orphaned partitions.
+
  - Added the IF NOT EXISTS clause to the CREATE TABLE statement
 
 2015/05/07 0.49.0
diff --git a/sql/src/main/java/io/crate/executor/transport/task/DropTableTask.java b/sql/src/main/java/io/crate/executor/transport/task/DropTableTask.java
index cb375866d171..02d426da2f03 100644
--- a/sql/src/main/java/io/crate/executor/transport/task/DropTableTask.java
+++ b/sql/src/main/java/io/crate/executor/transport/task/DropTableTask.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 import io.crate.metadata.PartitionName;
 import io.crate.metadata.table.TableInfo;
 import io.crate.planner.node.ddl.DropTableNode;
+import org.elasticsearch.ExceptionsHelper;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.ActionListener;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.delete.DeleteIndexRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.delete.DeleteIndexResponse;
@@ -34,6 +35,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.template.delete.TransportDeleteIndexTemplateAction;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.ESLogger;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.Loggers;
+import org.elasticsearch.indices.IndexTemplateMissingException;
 
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Locale;
@@ -79,7 +81,13 @@ public void onResponse(DeleteIndexTemplateResponse response) {
 
                 @Override
                 public void onFailure(Throwable e) {
-                    result.setException(e);
+                    e = ExceptionsHelper.unwrapCause(e);
+                    if (e instanceof IndexTemplateMissingException && !tableInfo.partitions().isEmpty()) {
+                        logger.warn(e.getMessage());
+                        deleteESIndex(tableInfo.ident().esName());
+                    } else {
+                        result.setException(e);
+                    }
                 }
             });
         } else {
diff --git a/sql/src/test/java/io/crate/integrationtests/PartitionedTableIntegrationTest.java b/sql/src/test/java/io/crate/integrationtests/PartitionedTableIntegrationTest.java
index 15a41677c128..a18c96139b17 100644
--- a/sql/src/test/java/io/crate/integrationtests/PartitionedTableIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/sql/src/test/java/io/crate/integrationtests/PartitionedTableIntegrationTest.java
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.query.MatchAllQueryBuilder;
+import org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers;
 import org.hamcrest.Matchers;
 import org.hamcrest.core.Is;
 import org.junit.After;
@@ -1793,6 +1794,25 @@ public void testFetchPartitionedTable() throws Exception {
         assertThat(response.rowCount(), is(lessThanOrEqualTo(1L)));
     }
 
+
+    @Test
+    public void testDeleteOrphanedPartitions() throws Throwable {
+        execute("create table foo (name string, p string) partitioned by (p) with (number_of_replicas=0, refresh_interval = 0)");
+        ensureYellow();
+        execute("insert into foo (name, p) values (?, ?)", new Object[]{"Marvin", 1});
+        execute("refresh table foo");
+
+        String templateName = PartitionName.templateName(null, "foo");
+        client().admin().indices().prepareDeleteTemplate(templateName).execute().actionGet();
+        waitNoPendingTasksOnAll();
+        execute("select * from sys.shards where table_name = 'foo'");
+        assertThat(response.rowCount(), CoreMatchers.is(5L));
+        execute("drop table foo");
+
+        execute("select * from sys.shards where table_name = 'foo'");
+        assertThat(response.rowCount(), CoreMatchers.is(0L));
+    }
+
     @After
     @Override
     public void tearDown() throws Exception {