diff --git a/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_sphinx.php b/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_sphinx.php
index 5f4a0deaa0..fa7bd01f39 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_sphinx.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_sphinx.php
@@ -495,6 +495,14 @@ class phpbb_search_fulltext_sphinx
 		if ($this->sphinx->GetLastError())
 		{
 			add_log('critical', 'LOG_SPHINX_ERROR', $this->sphinx->GetLastError());
+			if ($this->auth->acl_get('a_'))
+			{
+				trigger_error($this->user->lang('SPHINX_SEARCH_FAILED', $this->sphinx->GetLastError()));
+			}
+			else
+			{
+				trigger_error($this->user->lang('SPHINX_SEARCH_FAILED', $this->user->lang('SPHINX_SEARCH_ERROR_LOG')));
+			}
 		}
 
 		// Could be connection to localhost:9312 failed (errno=111,
diff --git a/phpBB/language/en/search.php b/phpBB/language/en/search.php
index d09b4303cd..5eea6044bc 100644
--- a/phpBB/language/en/search.php
+++ b/phpBB/language/en/search.php
@@ -105,6 +105,8 @@ $lang = array_merge($lang, array(
 	'SORT_FORUM'				=> 'Forum',
 	'SORT_POST_SUBJECT'			=> 'Post subject',
 	'SORT_TIME'					=> 'Post time',
+	'SPHINX_SEARCH_FAILED'		=> 'Search failed. %s',
+	'SPHINX_SEARCH_ERROR_LOG'	=> 'The error information has been logged.',
 
 	'TOO_FEW_AUTHOR_CHARS'	=> array(
 		1	=> 'You must specify at least %d character of the authors name.',