diff --git a/doc/site/content/changelogs/changelog-2026-07.markdown b/doc/site/content/changelogs/changelog-2026-07.markdown
index a12976ea753..048d19ce7be 100644
--- a/doc/site/content/changelogs/changelog-2026-07.markdown
+++ b/doc/site/content/changelogs/changelog-2026-07.markdown
@@ -115,3 +115,4 @@ Added a bunch of `debug.emulateFoo` functions that emulate input. Useful for aut
 - fix Skirmish AI API compilation issues due to `AIFloat3` having a non-trivial constructor.
 - attempt to fix the lack of `wupget:GameProgress` calls when initially catching up.
 - fix Lua `VBO::CopyTo` to copy VBO data CPU side in additon to GPU side. Formerly it only copied data GPU side.
+- fix QTPFS path cleanup when an immediate path search fails
diff --git a/rts/Sim/Path/QTPFS/PathManager.cpp b/rts/Sim/Path/QTPFS/PathManager.cpp
index 247a277049c..b971d9c194b 100644
--- a/rts/Sim/Path/QTPFS/PathManager.cpp
+++ b/rts/Sim/Path/QTPFS/PathManager.cpp
@@ -1686,13 +1686,16 @@ unsigned int QTPFS::PathManager::ExecuteImmediateSearch(unsigned int pathId){
 				registry.remove<PathIsTemp>(pathEntity);
 				registry.remove<PathIsDirty>(pathEntity);
 			} else {
-				DeletePathEntity(pathEntity);
 				pathId = 0;
 			}
 		}
 	}
 
-	RemovePathSearch(pathEntity);
+	// If successful, just remove the path search, otherwise delete the path entity and its search.
+	if (pathId > 0)
+		RemovePathSearch(pathEntity);
+	else
+		DeletePathEntity(pathEntity);
 
 	return pathId;
 }