diff --git a/js/server/modules/org/arangodb/cluster.js b/js/server/modules/org/arangodb/cluster.js
index 937bbe0e0b..6b749032af 100644
--- a/js/server/modules/org/arangodb/cluster.js
+++ b/js/server/modules/org/arangodb/cluster.js
@@ -583,7 +583,7 @@ function dropLocalCollections (plannedCollections) {
         }
       }
       catch (err) {
-        db._useDatabase("_system");
+        db._useDatabase(previousDatabase);
         throw err;
       }
     }