diff --git a/mapbox/geometry/wagyu/topology_correction.hpp b/mapbox/geometry/wagyu/topology_correction.hpp
index 4d757782..f9b4c8a0 100644
--- a/mapbox/geometry/wagyu/topology_correction.hpp
+++ b/mapbox/geometry/wagyu/topology_correction.hpp
@@ -1296,7 +1296,10 @@ void correct_tree(ring_manager<T>& manager) {
         }
         if (!found) {
             if ((*itr)->is_hole()) {
-                throw std::runtime_error("Could not properly place hole to a parent.");
+                // No remaining ring contains this hole (degenerate input, e.g. stacked
+                // duplicate rings from coalesced tiny-polygon placeholders); drop it
+                // rather than fail the entire tiling run.
+                remove_ring_and_points(*itr, manager, false);
             } else {
                 // Assign to base of tree by passing nullptr
                 reassign_as_child(*itr, static_cast<ring_ptr<T>>(nullptr), manager);
diff --git a/unit.cpp b/unit.cpp
index fff6b7c4..dc752152 100644
--- a/unit.cpp
+++ b/unit.cpp
@@ -136,3 +136,36 @@ TEST_CASE("line_is_too_small") {
 	dv.emplace_back(VT_LINETO, -51864809, 2683873977);
 	REQUIRE(line_is_too_small(dv, 0, 10));
 }
+
+TEST_CASE("Polygon cleaning drops a hole that no ring can parent", "[wagyu]") {
+	// Two mutually reversed self-intersecting rings whose union leaves a hole
+	// that wagyu's topology correction cannot assign to any surviving parent
+	// ring (found by fuzzing; same failure as mapbox/tippecanoe#761). Without
+	// the fix in mapbox/geometry/wagyu/topology_correction.hpp, this exits
+	// through the "Could not properly place hole to a parent." handler in
+	// clean_or_clip_poly instead of returning.
+	static const std::vector<std::vector<std::pair<long long, long long>>> rings = {
+	    {{0, 5}, {5, 4}, {5, 1}, {4, 4}, {4, 2}, {7, 1}, {0, 5}},
+	    {{0, 5}, {7, 1}, {4, 2}, {4, 4}, {5, 1}, {5, 4}, {0, 0}, {0, 5}},
+	};
+
+	drawvec geom;
+	for (auto const &ring : rings) {
+		for (size_t i = 0; i < ring.size(); i++) {
+			geom.push_back(draw(i == 0 ? VT_MOVETO : VT_LINETO, ring[i].first, ring[i].second));
+		}
+	}
+
+	drawvec out = clean_or_clip_poly(geom, 0, 0, false, false);
+
+	// The regression signal is getting here at all: without the fix,
+	// clean_or_clip_poly exits the process from its wagyu error handler.
+	SUCCEED("clean_or_clip_poly returned");
+
+	// Anything that survives must be sanely wound: first ring positive.
+	if (out.size() > 0) {
+		size_t j = 1;
+		while (j < out.size() && out[j].op == VT_LINETO) j++;
+		REQUIRE(get_area(out, 0, j) > 0);
+	}
+}