diff --git a/vmap/decoder.go b/vmap/decoder.go
index 3f5feba..78163c3 100644
--- a/vmap/decoder.go
+++ b/vmap/decoder.go
@@ -130,6 +130,9 @@ func (adBreak *AdBreak) UnmarshalToken(tok *xmltokenizer.Tokenizer, se *xmltoken
 		switch string(token.Name.Local) {
 		case "VAST":
 			var vast VAST
+			if token.SelfClosing {
+				break
+			}
 			// Reuse Token object in the sync.Pool since we only use it temporarily.
 			se := xmltokenizer.GetToken().Copy(token)
 			err = vast.UnmarshalToken(tok, se)
diff --git a/vmap/sample-vmap/testVmapEmptyVast.xml b/vmap/sample-vmap/testVmapEmptyVast.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..554499f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vmap/sample-vmap/testVmapEmptyVast.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+<vmap:VMAP version="1.0" xmlns:vmap="http://www.iab.net/vmap-1.0">
+  <vmap:AdBreak breakId="midroll.ad-1" breakType="linear" timeOffset="start">
+    <vmap:AdSource id="1" allowMultipleAds="true" followRedirects="true">
+      <vmap:VASTAdData>
+      <VAST version="4.1" />
+      </vmap:VASTAdData>
+    </vmap:AdSource>
+    <vmap:TrackingEvents>
+      <vmap:Tracking event="breakStart"><![CDATA[
+ http://test-adserver.domain/api/v1/sessions/331cea0b-f9a0-4ad3-b07c-e552f003316d/tracking?adId=midroll.ad-3&progress=vmap
+      ]]></vmap:Tracking>
+    </vmap:TrackingEvents>
+  </vmap:AdBreak>
+</vmap:VMAP>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/vmap/structure_test.go b/vmap/structure_test.go
index 8bb245c..27a2f28 100644
--- a/vmap/structure_test.go
+++ b/vmap/structure_test.go
@@ -62,6 +62,17 @@ func TestDecodeEmptyVmap(t *testing.T) {
 	is.Equal(len(vmap.AdBreaks), 0)
 }
 
+func TestDecodeVmapEmptyVast(t *testing.T) {
+	is := is.New(t)
+	doc, err := os.ReadFile("sample-vmap/testVmapEmptyVast.xml")
+	is.NoErr(err)
+
+	vmap, err := DecodeVmap(doc)
+	is.NoErr(err)
+
+	is.Equal(len(vmap.AdBreaks), 1)
+}
+
 func TestDecodeEmptyVast(t *testing.T) {
 	is := is.New(t)
 	doc, err := os.ReadFile("sample-vmap/testVast3.xml")