diff --git a/packages/search-ui-elasticsearch-connector/src/handlers/__tests__/handleSearch.test.ts b/packages/search-ui-elasticsearch-connector/src/handlers/__tests__/handleSearch.test.ts
index bf933444..4cf0a424 100644
--- a/packages/search-ui-elasticsearch-connector/src/handlers/__tests__/handleSearch.test.ts
+++ b/packages/search-ui-elasticsearch-connector/src/handlers/__tests__/handleSearch.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import type { RequestState, SearchQuery } from "@elastic/search-ui";
-import type { ResponseBody } from "../../types";
+import type { ResponseBody, SearchResponseWithError } from "../../types";
 import { handleSearch } from "../handleSearch";
 import { IApiClientTransporter } from "../../transporter/ApiClientTransporter";
 
@@ -414,4 +414,202 @@ describe("Search results", () => {
     );
     expect(mockPerformRequest).toHaveBeenCalledWith(modifiedRequestBody);
   });
+
+  describe("Elasticsearch error handling", () => {
+    it("should throw error with root_cause reason when available", async () => {
+      const errorResponse: SearchResponseWithError = {
+        ...mockResponse,
+        error: {
+          root_cause: [
+            {
+              type: "query_shard_exception",
+              reason:
+                "failed to create query: field:[test] was indexed without position data; cannot run PhraseQuery",
+              index_uuid: "index_uuid",
+              index: "index"
+            }
+          ],
+          type: "search_phase_execution_exception",
+          reason: "all shards failed",
+          phase: "query",
+          grouped: true,
+          failed_shards: [
+            {
+              shard: 0,
+              index: "index",
+              node: "node",
+              reason: {
+                type: "query_shard_exception",
+                reason:
+                  "failed to create query: field:[test] was indexed without position data; cannot run PhraseQuery",
+                index_uuid: "index_uuid",
+                index: "index",
+                caused_by: {
+                  type: "illegal_state_exception",
+                  reason:
+                    "field:[test] was indexed without position data; cannot run PhraseQuery"
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          ]
+        }
+      };
+
+      class ElasticsearchErrorApiClient extends MockApiClientTransporter {
+        async performRequest(): Promise<SearchResponseWithError> {
+          return errorResponse;
+        }
+      }
+
+      const errorPromise = handleSearch(
+        state,
+        queryConfig,
+        new ElasticsearchErrorApiClient()
+      );
+
+      await expect(errorPromise).rejects.toThrow(
+        "failed to create query: field:[test] was indexed without position data; cannot run PhraseQuery"
+      );
+
+      await expect(errorPromise).rejects.toMatchObject({
+        elasticsearchError: errorResponse.error
+      });
+
+      const error = await errorPromise.catch((e) => e);
+      expect(error.elasticsearchError.root_cause).toHaveLength(1);
+      expect(error.elasticsearchError.root_cause?.[0].type).toBe(
+        "query_shard_exception"
+      );
+      expect(error.elasticsearchError.failed_shards).toHaveLength(1);
+      expect(error.elasticsearchError.failed_shards?.[0].shard).toBe(0);
+    });
+
+    it("should fall back to main error reason when root_cause is not available", async () => {
+      const errorResponse: SearchResponseWithError = {
+        ...mockResponse,
+        error: {
+          type: "parsing_exception",
+          reason: "Unknown query [invalid_query]"
+        }
+      };
+
+      class ElasticsearchErrorApiClient extends MockApiClientTransporter {
+        async performRequest(): Promise<SearchResponseWithError> {
+          return errorResponse;
+        }
+      }
+
+      const errorPromise = handleSearch(
+        state,
+        queryConfig,
+        new ElasticsearchErrorApiClient()
+      );
+
+      await expect(errorPromise).rejects.toThrow(
+        "Unknown query [invalid_query]"
+      );
+
+      await expect(errorPromise).rejects.toMatchObject({
+        elasticsearchError: errorResponse.error
+      });
+
+      const error = await errorPromise.catch((e) => e);
+      expect(error.elasticsearchError.type).toBe("parsing_exception");
+    });
+
+    it("should use default error message when no reason is available", async () => {
+      const errorResponse: SearchResponseWithError = {
+        ...mockResponse,
+        error: {
+          type: "unknown_exception"
+        } as any
+      };
+
+      class ElasticsearchErrorApiClient extends MockApiClientTransporter {
+        async performRequest(): Promise<SearchResponseWithError> {
+          return errorResponse;
+        }
+      }
+
+      const errorPromise = handleSearch(
+        state,
+        queryConfig,
+        new ElasticsearchErrorApiClient()
+      );
+
+      await expect(errorPromise).rejects.toThrow("Elasticsearch search failed");
+
+      await expect(errorPromise).rejects.toMatchObject({
+        elasticsearchError: errorResponse.error
+      });
+    });
+
+    it("should handle complex nested error structure", async () => {
+      const complexErrorResponse: SearchResponseWithError = {
+        ...mockResponse,
+        error: {
+          root_cause: [
+            {
+              type: "query_shard_exception",
+              reason: "failed to create query",
+              index_uuid: "abc123",
+              index: "test_index",
+              caused_by: {
+                type: "illegal_state_exception",
+                reason: "field was indexed without position data"
+              }
+            }
+          ],
+          type: "search_phase_execution_exception",
+          reason: "all shards failed",
+          phase: "query",
+          grouped: true,
+          failed_shards: [
+            {
+              shard: 0,
+              index: "test_index",
+              node: "node1",
+              reason: {
+                type: "query_shard_exception",
+                reason: "failed to create query",
+                index_uuid: "abc123",
+                index: "test_index"
+              }
+            },
+            {
+              shard: 1,
+              index: "test_index",
+              node: "node2",
+              reason: {
+                type: "query_shard_exception",
+                reason: "failed to create query",
+                index_uuid: "abc123",
+                index: "test_index"
+              }
+            }
+          ]
+        }
+      };
+
+      class ComplexErrorApiClient extends MockApiClientTransporter {
+        async performRequest(): Promise<SearchResponseWithError> {
+          return complexErrorResponse;
+        }
+      }
+
+      const errorPromise = handleSearch(
+        state,
+        queryConfig,
+        new ComplexErrorApiClient()
+      );
+
+      await expect(errorPromise).rejects.toThrow("failed to create query");
+
+      const error = await errorPromise.catch((e) => e);
+      expect(error.elasticsearchError.failed_shards).toHaveLength(2);
+      expect(error.elasticsearchError.root_cause?.[0].caused_by?.type).toBe(
+        "illegal_state_exception"
+      );
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/search-ui-elasticsearch-connector/src/handlers/handleSearch.ts b/packages/search-ui-elasticsearch-connector/src/handlers/handleSearch.ts
index 1090b2c2..b1fcb031 100644
--- a/packages/search-ui-elasticsearch-connector/src/handlers/handleSearch.ts
+++ b/packages/search-ui-elasticsearch-connector/src/handlers/handleSearch.ts
@@ -7,11 +7,17 @@ import { SearchQueryBuilder } from "../queryBuilders/SearchQueryBuilder";
 import { transformSearchResponse } from "../transformer/responseTransformer";
 import type { IApiClientTransporter } from "../transporter/ApiClientTransporter";
 import type {
+  ElasticsearchError,
   PostProcessRequestBodyFn,
   RequestModifiers,
-  SearchRequest
+  SearchRequest,
+  SearchResponseWithError
 } from "../types";
 
+interface ElasticsearchSearchError extends Error {
+  elasticsearchError: ElasticsearchError;
+}
+
 export const handleSearch = async (
   state: RequestState,
   queryConfig: QueryConfig,
@@ -25,7 +31,7 @@ export const handleSearch = async (
 ): Promise<ResponseState> => {
   const queryBuilder = new SearchQueryBuilder(state, queryConfig, getQueryFn);
   let requestBody = await queryBuilder.build();
-  let response;
+  let response: SearchResponseWithError;
 
   if (postProcessRequestBodyFn) {
     requestBody = postProcessRequestBodyFn(requestBody, state, queryConfig);
@@ -37,6 +43,17 @@ export const handleSearch = async (
       (requestBody: SearchRequest) => apiClient.performRequest(requestBody)
     );
   }
+  if (response.error) {
+    const rootCause = response.error.root_cause?.[0];
+    const message =
+      rootCause?.reason ||
+      response.error.reason ||
+      "Elasticsearch search failed";
+
+    const error = new Error(message) as ElasticsearchSearchError;
+    error.elasticsearchError = response.error;
+    throw error;
+  }
 
   return transformSearchResponse(response, queryBuilder, queryConfig);
 };
diff --git a/packages/search-ui-elasticsearch-connector/src/types.ts b/packages/search-ui-elasticsearch-connector/src/types.ts
index a90adc00..aa711362 100644
--- a/packages/search-ui-elasticsearch-connector/src/types.ts
+++ b/packages/search-ui-elasticsearch-connector/src/types.ts
@@ -61,3 +61,31 @@ export type RequestModifiers = {
     queryConfig: QueryConfig
   ) => Query | Promise<Query>;
 };
+
+export interface ElasticsearchErrorCause {
+  type: string;
+  reason: string;
+  index_uuid?: string;
+  index?: string;
+  caused_by?: ElasticsearchErrorCause;
+}
+
+export interface ElasticsearchFailedShard {
+  shard: number;
+  index: string;
+  node: string;
+  reason: ElasticsearchErrorCause;
+}
+
+export interface ElasticsearchError {
+  root_cause?: ElasticsearchErrorCause[];
+  type: string;
+  reason: string;
+  phase?: string;
+  grouped?: boolean;
+  failed_shards?: ElasticsearchFailedShard[];
+}
+
+export interface SearchResponseWithError extends ResponseBody {
+  error?: ElasticsearchError;
+}