diff --git a/km3io/__init__.py b/km3io/__init__.py
index edd00a18f2ff75474ac40bb9cfb98aba4338e302..e7f2ff8cf4ef3220c973536955dc0072ceb8f0f9 100644
--- a/km3io/__init__.py
+++ b/km3io/__init__.py
@@ -1,9 +1,6 @@
 from pkg_resources import get_distribution, DistributionNotFound
 
-try:
-    version = get_distribution(__name__).version
-except DistributionNotFound:
-    version = "unknown version"
+version = get_distribution(__name__).version
 
 from .offline import OfflineReader
 from .daq import DAQReader