diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 79d30faf..127881c2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         version:
-          - '1.5'
+          - '1.6'
         os:
           - ubuntu-latest
         arch:
diff --git a/src/MPIBackend.jl b/src/MPIBackend.jl
index 9d24c369..439f2551 100644
--- a/src/MPIBackend.jl
+++ b/src/MPIBackend.jl
@@ -22,12 +22,32 @@ function prun(driver::Function,b::MPIBackend,nparts)
   if !MPI.Initialized()
     MPI.Init()
   end
-  #try 
-    part = get_part_ids(b,nparts)
-    driver(part)
-  #finally
-  #  MPI.Finalize()
-  #end
+  try
+     part = get_part_ids(b,nparts)
+     driver(part)
+  catch e
+    @error "" exception=(e, catch_backtrace())
+    if MPI.Initialized() && !MPI.Finalized()
+      MPI.Abort(MPI.COMM_WORLD,0)
+    end
+  end
+  # We are NOT invoking MPI.Finalize() here because we rely on
+  # MPI.jl, which registers MPI.Finalize() in atexit()
+end
+
+# Useful to debug an MPI program when executed interactively
+# on the REPL, i.e., with a single MPI task
+function prun_debug(driver::Function,b::MPIBackend,nparts)
+  if !MPI.Initialized()
+    MPI.Init()
+  end
+  if (length(nparts) != 1)
+    MPI.Abort(MPI.COMM_WORLD,0)
+  end
+  part = get_part_ids(b,nparts)
+  driver(part)
+  # We are NOT invoking MPI.Finalize() here because we rely on
+  # MPI.jl, which registers MPI.Finalize() in atexit()
 end
 
 struct MPIData{T,N} <: AbstractPData{T,N}
@@ -156,7 +176,7 @@ function scatter(snd::MPIData)
     MPI.Scatter!(MPI.UBuffer(snd.part,1),MPI.IN_PLACE,MAIN-1,snd.comm)
   else
     rcv = Vector{eltype(snd.part)}(undef,1)
-    MPI.Scatter!(nothing,rcv,MAIN-1,snd.comm)        
+    MPI.Scatter!(nothing,rcv,MAIN-1,snd.comm)
     part = rcv[1]
   end
   MPIData(part,snd.comm,snd.size)
@@ -171,7 +191,7 @@ function scatter(snd::MPIData{<:Table})
     rcv = snd.part[MAIN]
   else
     rcv = eltype(snd.part)(undef,counts_scat.part)
-    MPI.Scatterv!(nothing,rcv,MAIN-1,snd.comm)        
+    MPI.Scatterv!(nothing,rcv,MAIN-1,snd.comm)
   end
   MPIData(rcv,snd.comm,snd.size)
 end
@@ -282,4 +302,3 @@ function async_exchange!(
   t_out = MPIData(t2,comm,s)
   t_out
 end
-
diff --git a/src/PartitionedArrays.jl b/src/PartitionedArrays.jl
index fb920c8a..ec598dde 100644
--- a/src/PartitionedArrays.jl
+++ b/src/PartitionedArrays.jl
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import IterativeSolvers
 import Distances
 
 export AbstractBackend
-export prun
+export prun, prun_debug
 export AbstractPData
 export SequentialData
 export MPIData
diff --git a/src/SequentialBackend.jl b/src/SequentialBackend.jl
index 795358f6..b0b320be 100644
--- a/src/SequentialBackend.jl
+++ b/src/SequentialBackend.jl
@@ -13,6 +13,10 @@ function get_part_ids(b::SequentialBackend,nparts::Tuple)
   SequentialData(parts)
 end
 
+function prun_debug(driver::Function,b::SequentialBackend,nparts)
+  prun(driver,b,nparts)
+end
+
 struct SequentialData{T,N} <: AbstractPData{T,N}
   parts::Array{T,N}
 end
diff --git a/test/mpi/ExceptionTests.jl b/test/mpi/ExceptionTests.jl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a7e4080a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/mpi/ExceptionTests.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+module ExceptionTests
+
+include("mpiexec.jl")
+run_mpi_driver(procs=8,file="driver_exception.jl")
+
+end # module
diff --git a/test/mpi/driver_exception.jl b/test/mpi/driver_exception.jl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1226130f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/mpi/driver_exception.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+include("../test_exception.jl")
+nparts = (2,2,2)
+prun(test_exception,mpi,nparts)
diff --git a/test/mpi/runtests.jl b/test/mpi/runtests.jl
index cddee559..27b9132e 100644
--- a/test/mpi/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/mpi/runtests.jl
@@ -14,4 +14,7 @@ using Test
 
 @testset "PTimers" begin include("PTimersTests.jl") end
 
+@testset "ExceptionTests" begin include("ExceptionTests.jl") end
+
+
 end
diff --git a/test/sequential/FDMTests.jl b/test/sequential/FDMTests.jl
index 2485ecc5..54439fce 100644
--- a/test/sequential/FDMTests.jl
+++ b/test/sequential/FDMTests.jl
@@ -3,9 +3,9 @@ module FDMTests
 include("../test_fdm.jl")
 
 nparts = (2,2,2)
-prun(test_fdm,sequential,nparts)
+prun_debug(test_fdm,sequential,nparts)
 
 nparts = 4
-prun(test_fdm,sequential,nparts)
+prun_debug(test_fdm,sequential,nparts)
 
 end # module
diff --git a/test/test_exception.jl b/test/test_exception.jl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f2356079
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_exception.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+
+using PartitionedArrays
+
+function throw_assert(parts)
+  nparts=length(parts)
+  map_parts(parts) do part
+      @assert rand(1:nparts) != part
+  end
+end
+
+function test_exception(parts)
+  throw_assert(parts)
+end