diff --git a/fsl/data/image.py b/fsl/data/image.py
index bc1857e299e00c9dabbb1e5ead1c3240c985043e..0afc47c7473690970554cea7aab95ec385bcfd45 100644
--- a/fsl/data/image.py
+++ b/fsl/data/image.py
@@ -1389,10 +1389,17 @@ def loadIndexedImageFile(filename):
 
     Returns a tuple containing the ``nibabel`` NIFTI image, and the open
     ``IndexedGzipFile`` handle.
+
+    If ``indexed_gzip`` is not present, the image is loaded normally via
+    ``nibabel.load``.
     """
 
-    import                 threading
-    import indexed_gzip as igzip
+    import threading
+
+    try:
+        import indexed_gzip as igzip
+    except ImportError:
+        return nib.load(filename), None
 
     log.debug('Loading {} using indexed gzip'.format(filename))