diff --git a/src/search.c b/src/search.c
index bb8ed059..490306a5 100644
--- a/src/search.c
+++ b/src/search.c
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ SEXP find_unbalanced_bracket(SEXP content, SEXP _row, SEXP _col, SEXP _skip_el)
     stack pos;
     stack codept_pos;
     int nbracket = 0;
+    int ncurrentunbalanced = 0;
     int nunbalanced = 0;
     char brac[2] = " \x00";
 
@@ -47,6 +48,7 @@ SEXP find_unbalanced_bracket(SEXP content, SEXP _row, SEXP _col, SEXP _skip_el)
         fsm_initialize(&state);
         stack_initialize(&pos);
         stack_initialize(&codept_pos);
+        ncurrentunbalanced = 0;
         while (j < n && (i < row || k <= col)) {
             cj = c[j];
             if (0x80 <= cj && cj <= 0xbf) {
@@ -66,7 +68,7 @@ SEXP find_unbalanced_bracket(SEXP content, SEXP _row, SEXP _col, SEXP _skip_el)
                         stack_pop(&pos);
                         stack_pop(&codept_pos);
                     } else {
-                        nunbalanced += 1;
+                        ncurrentunbalanced += 1;
                     }
                 }
             }
@@ -80,6 +82,7 @@ SEXP find_unbalanced_bracket(SEXP content, SEXP _row, SEXP _col, SEXP _skip_el)
             nunbalanced -= 1;
             nbracket -= 1;
         }
+        nunbalanced += ncurrentunbalanced;
         j = stack_pop(&pos);
         k = stack_pop(&codept_pos);
         stack_clear(&pos);
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-search.R b/tests/testthat/test-search.R
index 4a2f3c34..86b43498 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-search.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-search.R
@@ -64,6 +64,10 @@ test_that("find_unbalanced_bracket works as expected", {
     expect_equal(bsearch(c("foo({ ", "}, xyz"), 1, 3)[[1]], c(0, 3))
     expect_equal(bsearch(c("foo(( ", "), xyz"), 1, 3)[[1]], c(0, 3))
 
+    # issue #530
+    expect_equal(bsearch(c("if (sum()) ", "xyz"), 0, 7)[[1]], c(0, 7))
+    expect_equal(bsearch(c("} if (sum()) ", "xyz"), 0, 9)[[1]], c(0, 9))
+=
     # other brackets
     expect_equal(bsearch("foo[xy", 0, 5), list(c(0, 3), "["))
     expect_equal(bsearch("foo{xy", 0, 5), list(c(0, 3), "{"))