diff --git a/sdbusplus/asio/detail/async_send_handler.hpp b/sdbusplus/asio/detail/async_send_handler.hpp
index ce4e394..58f6a34 100644
--- a/sdbusplus/asio/detail/async_send_handler.hpp
+++ b/sdbusplus/asio/detail/async_send_handler.hpp
@@ -45,10 +45,11 @@
             sd_bus_call_async(conn, NULL, mesg.get(), &callback, context, 0);
         if (ec < 0)
         {
+            // add a deleter to context because handler may throw
+            std::unique_ptr<async_send_handler> safe_context(context);
             auto err =
                 make_error_code(static_cast<boost::system::errc::errc_t>(ec));
             context->handler_(err, mesg);
-            delete context;
         }
     }
     static int callback(sd_bus_message* mesg, void* userdata,
@@ -69,4 +70,4 @@
 };
 } // namespace detail
 } // namespace asio
-} // namespace sdbusplus
\ No newline at end of file
+} // namespace sdbusplus