diff --git a/internal/impl/opensearch/integration_test.go b/internal/impl/opensearch/integration_test.go
index 46de802e8..7df03da0d 100644
--- a/internal/impl/opensearch/integration_test.go
+++ b/internal/impl/opensearch/integration_test.go
@@ -451,6 +451,39 @@ action: ${! @elastic_action }
 			resEqualsJSON(t, get, string(testMsg[i]))
 		}
 	}
+
+	// Test deleting a non-existing document
+	m2 := outputFromConf(t, `
+index: test_conn_index
+id: 'non-existing-id'
+urls: %v
+action: delete
+`, urls)
+
+	require.NoError(t, m2.Connect(ctx))
+	defer func() {
+		require.NoError(t, m2.Close(ctx))
+	}()
+
+	require.Error(t, m2.WriteBatch(ctx, service.MessageBatch{
+		service.NewMessage([]byte{}),
+	}))
+
+	// Verify the document was not found
+	get, err := client.Do(ctx, osapi.DocumentGetReq{
+		Index:      "test_conn_index",
+		DocumentID: "non-existing-id",
+	}, nil)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	if get.IsError() {
+		if respCode := get.StatusCode; respCode == http.StatusNotFound {
+			// Document was not found, as expected
+		} else {
+			t.Errorf("Unexpected error deleting non-existing document: %d", respCode)
+		}
+	} else {
+		t.Errorf("Expected error deleting non-existing document")
+	}
 }
 
 func testOpenSearchBatchIDCollision(urls []string, client *os.Client, t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/internal/impl/opensearch/output.go b/internal/impl/opensearch/output.go
index 21dccc09f..14ce07b99 100644
--- a/internal/impl/opensearch/output.go
+++ b/internal/impl/opensearch/output.go
@@ -382,13 +382,24 @@ func (e *Output) buildBulkableRequest(p *pendingBulkIndex, onError func(err erro
 		biri opensearchapi.BulkRespItem,
 		err error,
 	) {
-		if err == nil {
-			if biri.Error.Type == "" {
-				biri.Error.Type = fmt.Sprintf("status %v", biri.Status)
+		if err != nil {
+			onError(err)
+			return
+		}
+
+		errType := fmt.Sprintf("status %v", biri.Status)
+		errReason := "unknown error"
+
+		if biri.Error != nil {
+			if biri.Error.Type != "" {
+				errType = biri.Error.Type
+			}
+			if biri.Error.Reason != "" {
+				errReason = biri.Error.Reason
 			}
-			err = fmt.Errorf("%v: %v", biri.Error.Type, biri.Error.Reason)
 		}
-		onError(err)
+
+		onError(fmt.Errorf("%v: %v", errType, errReason))
 	}
 	return
 }