diff --git a/src/map.c b/src/map.c
index 209d9d2..2d378b5 100644
--- a/src/map.c
+++ b/src/map.c
@@ -2180,7 +2180,18 @@
 	    {
 		modifiers = str[2];
 		str += 3;
-		c = *str;
+
+		// Modifiers can be applied too to multi-byte characters.
+		p = mb_unescape(&str);
+
+		if (p == NULL)
+		    c = *str;
+		else
+		{
+		    // retrieve codepoint (character number) from unescaped string
+		    c = (*mb_ptr2char)(p);
+		    --str;
+		}
 	    }
 	    if (c == K_SPECIAL)
 	    {