diff --git a/modules/io/src/mol/entity_io_mae_handler.cc b/modules/io/src/mol/entity_io_mae_handler.cc
index c1c477c3a3a6e1c159f8ec6b07c444d0a4717009..a60b913f378db4b65a6043dfdf7959ef155d236a 100644
--- a/modules/io/src/mol/entity_io_mae_handler.cc
+++ b/modules/io/src/mol/entity_io_mae_handler.cc
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ void MAEReader::parse_and_add_atom(mol::EntityHandle ent,
   std::string rname("UNK");
   std::string cname("X");
   geom::Vec3 apos;
-  int irnum;
+  int irnum=0;
 
   LOG_TRACE("[" << std::string(line) << "]");