diff --git a/Mesh_2/include/CGAL/Mesh_2/Refine_edges.h b/Mesh_2/include/CGAL/Mesh_2/Refine_edges.h
index 75df3e3de8b..a4b02bea8db 100644
--- a/Mesh_2/include/CGAL/Mesh_2/Refine_edges.h
+++ b/Mesh_2/include/CGAL/Mesh_2/Refine_edges.h
@@ -581,7 +581,9 @@ public:
     } while( fc != fcbegin );
 
     Face_handle fh;
-    int index;
+    int index = 0; // Avoids a warning. 
+                   // We know that is_edge must return true, and is_edge will assign something to index
+                   // but the compiler does not so it will issue a maybe uninitialized warning
 
     CGAL_assume_code(bool is_edge = )
     tr.is_edge(va, v, fh, index);