diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/search/basic/SearchWhileCreatingIndexTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/search/basic/SearchWhileCreatingIndexTests.java
index e659122dc62..02b102a6f30 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/search/basic/SearchWhileCreatingIndexTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/search/basic/SearchWhileCreatingIndexTests.java
@@ -19,8 +19,11 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.test.integration.search.basic;
 
+import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.state.ClusterStateResponse;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.tasks.PendingClusterTasksResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.refresh.RefreshResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchResponse;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.service.PendingClusterTask;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilders;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.integration.AbstractSharedClusterTest;
 import org.junit.Test;
@@ -43,15 +46,47 @@ public class SearchWhileCreatingIndexTests extends AbstractSharedClusterTest {
      * shards possibly not active at all (cause they haven't allocated) will still work.
      */
     @Test
-    public void searchWhileCreatingIndex() {
-        for (int i = 0; i < 20; i++) {
-            prepareCreate("test").setSettings(settingsBuilder().put("index.number_of_shards", 10));
-            client().prepareIndex("test", "type1", "id:" + i).setSource("field", "test").execute().actionGet();
-            RefreshResponse refreshResponse = client().admin().indices().prepareRefresh("test").execute().actionGet();
-            assertThat(refreshResponse.getSuccessfulShards(), greaterThanOrEqualTo(1)); // at least one shard should be successful when refreshing
-            SearchResponse searchResponse = client().prepareSearch("test").setQuery(QueryBuilders.termQuery("field", "test")).execute().actionGet();
-            assertThat("found unexpected number of hits, shard_failures (we expected to potentially non active ones!):" + Arrays.toString(searchResponse.getShardFailures()) + " id: " + i, searchResponse.getHits().totalHits(), equalTo(1l));
-            wipeIndex("test");
+    public void searchWhileCreatingIndex() throws Throwable {
+        Thread backgroundThread;
+        final Throwable[] threadException = new Throwable[1];
+        backgroundThread = new Thread(new Runnable() {
+            @Override
+            public void run() {
+                try {
+                    for (int i = 0; i < 20; i++) {
+                        logger.info("Running iteration {}", i);
+                        prepareCreate("test").setSettings(settingsBuilder().put("index.number_of_shards", 10));
+                        client().prepareIndex("test", "type1", "id:" + i).setSource("field", "test").execute().actionGet();
+                        RefreshResponse refreshResponse = client().admin().indices().prepareRefresh("test").execute().actionGet();
+                        assertThat(refreshResponse.getSuccessfulShards(), greaterThanOrEqualTo(1)); // at least one shard should be successful when refreshing
+                        SearchResponse searchResponse = client().prepareSearch("test").setQuery(QueryBuilders.termQuery("field", "test")).execute().actionGet();
+                        assertThat("found unexpected number of hits, shard_failures (we expected to potentially non active ones!):" + Arrays.toString(searchResponse.getShardFailures()) + " id: " + i, searchResponse.getHits().totalHits(), equalTo(1l));
+                        wipeIndex("test");
+                    }
+                } catch (Throwable t) {
+                    threadException[0] = t;
+                }
+            }
+        });
+        backgroundThread.setDaemon(true);
+        backgroundThread.start();
+        backgroundThread.join(30 * 60 * 1000);
+        if (threadException[0] != null) {
+            throw threadException[0];
         }
+        if (backgroundThread.isAlive()) {
+            logger.error("Background thread hanged. Dumping cluster info");
+            ClusterStateResponse clusterStateResponse = client().admin().cluster().prepareState().get();
+            logger.info("ClusterState: {}", clusterStateResponse.getState());
+            PendingClusterTasksResponse pendingTasks = client().admin().cluster().preparePendingClusterTasks().get();
+            logger.info("Pending tasks:");
+            for (PendingClusterTask task : pendingTasks) {
+                logger.info("Task: priority: {} source: {} Time in queue (ms): {}", task.getPriority(), task.getSource(), task.timeInQueueInMillis());
+            }
+            fail("Background thread didn't finish within 30 minutes");
+        }
+        logger.info("done");
+
+
     }
 }
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