diff --git a/tests/v1/fault_tolerance/test_fault_tolerance_e2e.py b/tests/v1/fault_tolerance/test_fault_tolerance_e2e.py
index f6d15343b5..27e45f6635 100644
--- a/tests/v1/fault_tolerance/test_fault_tolerance_e2e.py
+++ b/tests/v1/fault_tolerance/test_fault_tolerance_e2e.py
@@ -190,11 +190,13 @@ def _apply_ft(server, instruction: str, params: dict | None = None) -> dict:
 
 def _kill_worker_process(server) -> None:
     """SIGKILL only the worker proc, leaving EngineCore and API server alive."""
-    workers = [
-        p
-        for p in psutil.Process(server.proc.pid).children(recursive=True)
-        if "Worker" in " ".join(p.cmdline())
-    ]
+    workers = []
+    for p in psutil.Process(server.proc.pid).children(recursive=True):
+        # Skip descendants that already exited: cmdline() raises ZombieProcess
+        # if unreaped, NoSuchProcess if reaped. A dead worker still fails below.
+        with contextlib.suppress(psutil.ZombieProcess, psutil.NoSuchProcess):
+            if "Worker" in " ".join(p.cmdline()):
+                workers.append(p)
     assert len(workers) == 1, f"expected 1 worker proc, found: {workers}"
     workers[0].kill()