diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Docbook.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Docbook.hs
index 294c043e2..996e50e6b 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Docbook.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Docbook.hs
@@ -181,6 +181,7 @@ colHeadsToDocbook :: WriterOptions
-> [Double]
-> [[Block]]
-> Doc
+colHeadsToDocbook _ _ _ hs | all null hs = empty
colHeadsToDocbook opts alignStrings widths headers =
let heads = zipWith3 (\align width item ->
tableItemToDocbook opts "th" align width item)
diff --git a/tests/tables.docbook b/tests/tables.docbook
index 002aacd66..6622fb2b2 100644
--- a/tests/tables.docbook
+++ b/tests/tables.docbook
@@ -284,3 +284,50 @@
+
+ Table without column headers:
+
+
+
+ |
+ 12
+ |
+
+ 12
+ |
+
+ 12
+ |
+
+ 12
+ |
+
+
+ |
+ 123
+ |
+
+ 123
+ |
+
+ 123
+ |
+
+ 123
+ |
+
+
+ |
+ 1
+ |
+
+ 1
+ |
+
+ 1
+ |
+
+ 1
+ |
+
+