diff --git a/tinyxmlparser.cpp b/tinyxmlparser.cpp
index 9a77ebc..cfe4eb2 100644
--- a/tinyxmlparser.cpp
+++ b/tinyxmlparser.cpp
@@ -273,6 +273,12 @@
 						else
 							{ p +=3; ++col; }	// A normal character.
 					}
+					else
+					{
+						// TIXML_UTF_LEAD_0 (239) is the start character of a 3 byte sequence, so
+						// there is something wrong here. Just advance the pointer to evade infinite loops
+						++p;
+					}
 				}
 				else
 				{