diff --git a/icu4c/source/i18n/zonemeta.cpp b/icu4c/source/i18n/zonemeta.cpp
index fdf333c3712..dd3bf202f28 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/i18n/zonemeta.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/i18n/zonemeta.cpp
@@ -683,7 +683,6 @@ ZoneMeta::createMetazoneMappings(const UnicodeString &tzid) {
                     mzMappings = new UVector(deleteOlsonToMetaMappingEntry, NULL, status);
                     if (U_FAILURE(status)) {
                         delete mzMappings;
-                        deleteOlsonToMetaMappingEntry(entry);
                         uprv_free(entry);
                         break;
                     }