diff --git a/sax.js b/sax.js
index 0b3e588..8916dd9 100644
--- a/sax.js
+++ b/sax.js
@@ -278,6 +278,7 @@ function appendElement(contentHandler,elStack,el,tagName,selfClosed){
 	}
 	var i = el.length;
 	while(i--){
+		a = el[i];
 		var prefix = a.prefix;
 		if(prefix){//no prefix attribute has no namespace
 			if(prefix === 'xml'){
diff --git a/test/dom/attr.js b/test/dom/attr.js
index 065fcf8..41528ea 100644
--- a/test/dom/attr.js
+++ b/test/dom/attr.js
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@ wows.describe('XML attrs').addBatch({
 //    	root.firstChild.setAttributeNode(root.attributes[0]);
 //    	console.assert(root.attributes.length == 0);
     },
+    "attribute namespace":function(){
+    	var root = new DOMParser().parseFromString("<xml xmlns:a='a' xmlns:b='b' a:b='e'></xml>",'text/xml').documentElement;
+    	console.assert(root.getAttributeNS("a", "b"), "e");
+    },
     "override ns attribute":function(){
     	
     },