diff --git a/src/layout-manager.js b/src/layout-manager.js
index 3937452..ecafaf9 100644
--- a/src/layout-manager.js
+++ b/src/layout-manager.js
@@ -88,14 +88,19 @@ const { ColSpanCell, RowSpanCell } = Cell;
   }
 
   function addRowSpanCells(table) {
-    table.forEach(function (row, rowIndex) {
+    table.forEach(function (row) {
       row.forEach(function (cell) {
         for (let i = 1; i < cell.rowSpan; i++) {
           let rowSpanCell = new RowSpanCell(cell);
+          const line = cell.y + i;
           rowSpanCell.x = cell.x;
-          rowSpanCell.y = cell.y + i;
+          rowSpanCell.y = line;
           rowSpanCell.colSpan = cell.colSpan;
-          insertCell(rowSpanCell, table[rowIndex + i]);
+          if (!table[line]) {
+            const { x, y } = rowSpanCell;
+            warn(`${x}-${y}: Expected empty array for row ${line - 1} (line ${line}).`);
+          }
+          insertCell(rowSpanCell, table[rowSpanCell.y] || []);
         }
       });
     });
@@ -110,7 +115,7 @@ const { ColSpanCell, RowSpanCell } = Cell;
           let colSpanCell = new ColSpanCell();
           colSpanCell.x = cell.x + k;
           colSpanCell.y = cell.y;
-          cellColumns.splice(columnIndex + 1, 0, colSpanCell);
+          cellColumns.splice(colSpanCell.x, 0, colSpanCell);
         }
       }
     }
@@ -146,7 +151,7 @@ const { ColSpanCell, RowSpanCell } = Cell;
           cell.x = opts.x;
           cell.y = opts.y;
           warn(`Missing cell at ${cell.y}-${cell.x}.`);
-          insertCell(cell, table[y]);
+          insertCell(cell, table[y] || []);
         }
       }
     }
diff --git a/test/issues/296-test.js b/test/issues/296-test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..28fc71a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/issues/296-test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+const Table = require('../..');
+
+/**
+ * This test doesn't actually fail it never completes. I could not find a method
+ * to get the infinite loop to timeout within the test. Not sure how GHA will
+ * handle this.
+ */
+test('it should not loop infinitely with invalid table data', async () => {
+  const table = new Table();
+  table.push(
+    [
+      { content: 'A', colSpan: 2 },
+      { content: 'B', rowSpan: 3 },
+    ],
+    [],
+    [{ content: 'C', colSpan: 3 }]
+  );
+  expect(() => table.toString()).not.toThrow();
+});
+
+test('it should not error on invalid table data', () => {
+  const table = new Table({ debug: true });
+  table.push(
+    [
+      { content: 'A', colSpan: 2 },
+      { content: 'B', rowSpan: 3 },
+    ],
+    [{ content: 'C', colSpan: 3 }]
+  );
+  expect(() => table.toString()).not.toThrow();
+  // This expectation can be dropped if the expectation in the code changes
+  expect(table.messages).toContain('2-2: Expected empty array for row 1 (line 2).');
+});