diff --git a/Lib/test/test_sre.py b/Lib/test/test_sre.py
index e879151..75a168c 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_sre.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_sre.py
@@ -155,6 +155,7 @@
     print 'Running tests on sre.split'
 
 test(r"""sre.split(r":", ":a:b::c")""", ['', 'a', 'b', '', 'c'])
+test(r"""sre.split(r":+", ":a:b:::")""", ['', 'a', 'b', ''])
 test(r"""sre.split(r":*", ":a:b::c")""", ['', 'a', 'b', 'c'])
 test(r"""sre.split(r"(:*)", ":a:b::c")""", ['', ':', 'a', ':', 'b', '::', 'c'])
 test(r"""sre.split(r"(?::*)", ":a:b::c")""", ['', 'a', 'b', 'c'])
diff --git a/Modules/_sre.c b/Modules/_sre.c
index 5573046..73ffa70 100644
--- a/Modules/_sre.c
+++ b/Modules/_sre.c
@@ -2007,17 +2007,16 @@
 
     }
 
-    /* get segment following last match */
-    i = STATE_OFFSET(&state, last);
-    if (i < state.endpos) {
-        item = PySequence_GetSlice(string, i, state.endpos);
-        if (!item)
-            goto error;
-        status = PyList_Append(list, item);
-        Py_DECREF(item);
-        if (status < 0)
-            goto error;
-    }
+    /* get segment following last match (even if empty) */
+    item = PySequence_GetSlice(
+        string, STATE_OFFSET(&state, last), state.endpos
+        );
+    if (!item)
+        goto error;
+    status = PyList_Append(list, item);
+    Py_DECREF(item);
+    if (status < 0)
+        goto error;
 
     state_fini(&state);
     return list;