diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/Translog.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/Translog.java
index ab4961892ca12..cc5041bf24434 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/Translog.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/Translog.java
@@ -583,12 +583,7 @@ public Operation readOperation(Location location) throws IOException {
             if (current.generation == location.generation) {
                 // no need to fsync here the read operation will ensure that buffers are written to disk
                 // if they are still in RAM and we are reading onto that position
-                try {
-                    return current.read(location);
-                } catch (final Exception ex) {
-                    closeOnTragicEvent(ex);
-                    throw ex;
-                }
+                return current.read(location);
             } else {
                 // read backwards - it's likely we need to read on that is recent
                 for (int i = readers.size() - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
@@ -598,6 +593,9 @@ public Operation readOperation(Location location) throws IOException {
                     }
                 }
             }
+        } catch (final Exception ex) {
+            closeOnTragicEvent(ex);
+            throw ex;
         }
         return null;
     }
@@ -735,15 +733,28 @@ public boolean ensureSynced(Stream<Location> locations) throws IOException {
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Closes the translog if the current translog writer experienced a tragic exception.
+     *
+     * Note that in case this thread closes the translog it must not already be holding a read lock on the translog as it will acquire a
+     * write lock in the course of closing the translog
+     *
+     * @param ex if an exception occurs closing the translog, it will be suppressed into the provided exception
+     */
     private void closeOnTragicEvent(final Exception ex) {
+        // we can not hold a read lock here because closing will attempt to obtain a write lock and that would result in self-deadlock
+        assert readLock.isHeldByCurrentThread() == false : Thread.currentThread().getName();
         if (current.getTragicException() != null) {
             try {
                 close();
             } catch (final AlreadyClosedException inner) {
-                // don't do anything in this case. The AlreadyClosedException comes from TranslogWriter and we should not add it as suppressed because
-                // will contain the Exception ex as cause. See also https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/15941
+                /*
+                 * Don't do anything in this case. The AlreadyClosedException comes from TranslogWriter and we should not add it as
+                 * suppressed because it will contain the provided exception as its cause. See also
+                 * https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/15941.
+                 */
             } catch (final Exception inner) {
-                assert (ex != inner.getCause());
+                assert ex != inner.getCause();
                 ex.addSuppressed(inner);
             }
         }
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/TranslogTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/TranslogTests.java
index 8899dca24b146..b3b9fca886e17 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/TranslogTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/TranslogTests.java
@@ -1812,7 +1812,6 @@ public void testTragicEventCanBeAnyException() throws IOException {
         assertTrue(translog.getTragicException() instanceof UnknownException);
     }
 
-    @AwaitsFix(bugUrl = "https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/29509")
     public void testFatalIOExceptionsWhileWritingConcurrently() throws IOException, InterruptedException {
         Path tempDir = createTempDir();
         final FailSwitch fail = new FailSwitch();