diff --git a/src/compute_chunk_atom.cpp b/src/compute_chunk_atom.cpp
index ccd5da433f..013efb8c50 100644
--- a/src/compute_chunk_atom.cpp
+++ b/src/compute_chunk_atom.cpp
@@ -906,7 +906,11 @@ void ComputeChunkAtom::assign_chunk_ids()
 
   // update region if necessary
 
-  if (regionflag) region->prematch();
+  if (regionflag) {
+    region = domain->get_region_by_id(idregion);
+    if (!region) error->all(FLERR, "Region {} for compute chunk/atom does not exist", idregion);
+    region->prematch();
+  }
 
   // exclude = 1 if atom is not assigned to a chunk
   // exclude atoms not in group or not in optional region