diff --git a/lisp/org-table.el b/lisp/org-table.el
index 37ce91570..4a2623b55 100644
--- a/lisp/org-table.el
+++ b/lisp/org-table.el
@@ -5477,14 +5477,16 @@ a radio table."
     (goto-char (org-table-begin))
     (let (rtn)
       (forward-line -1)
-      (while (looking-at "[ \t]*#\\+ORGTBL[: \t][ \t]*SEND[ \t]+\\([^ \t\r\n]+\\)[ \t]+\\([^ \t\r\n]+\\)\\([ \t]+.*\\)?")
-	(let ((name (org-no-properties (match-string 1)))
-	      (transform (intern (match-string 2)))
-	      (params (if (match-end 3)
-			  (read (concat "(" (match-string 3) ")")))))
-	  (push (list :name name :transform transform :params params)
-		rtn)
-	  (forward-line -1)))
+      (catch :bob
+        (while (looking-at "[ \t]*#\\+ORGTBL[: \t][ \t]*SEND[ \t]+\\([^ \t\r\n]+\\)[ \t]+\\([^ \t\r\n]+\\)\\([ \t]+.*\\)?")
+	  (let ((name (org-no-properties (match-string 1)))
+	        (transform (intern (match-string 2)))
+	        (params (if (match-end 3)
+			    (read (concat "(" (match-string 3) ")")))))
+	    (push (list :name name :transform transform :params params)
+		  rtn)
+            (when (bobp) (throw :bob nil))
+	    (forward-line -1))))
       rtn)))
 
 (defun orgtbl-send-replace-tbl (name text)