diff --git a/tools/burnin b/tools/burnin
index d0ef8775385b58581ceee1e5bd59ddcde93f9280..1ba5f7b4848387044d4b0bec428ed3c3c62dd1fd 100755
--- a/tools/burnin
+++ b/tools/burnin
@@ -784,7 +784,14 @@ class Burner(object):
         Log(self.GetFeedbackBuf())
         Log("\n\n")
       if not self.opts.keep_instances:
-        self.BurnRemove()
+        try:
+          self.BurnRemove()
+        except Exception, err:
+          if has_err: # already detected errors, so errors in removal
+                      # are quite expected
+            Log("Note: error detected during instance remove: %s" % str(err))
+          else: # non-expected error
+            raise
 
     return 0