Death of British Aid Worker Linda Norgrove During Rescue Ruled Accidental

An official U.K. inquest into the death of a British aid worker killed by a grenade amid a failed rescue attempt ruled the death accidental.

At an inquest held in England, the coroner, David Ridley, cited mistakes made by a U.S. Navy Seal who tossed a grenade into a room where Linda Norgrove, 36, was located, but also noted that the operative -- identified only as Team Member Five -- was forced to make a split-second decision.

The grenade killed Norgrove, who was lying injured, on Oct. 8. The Seal, who has not been identified by name, was described during proceedings as "shattered" by what happened.

British Coroner Rules Aid Worker's Death During Rescue Was Accidental

FCO / AP

British hostage Linda Norgrove was killed by a U.S. grenade during a rescue attempt Oct. 8 in Afghanistan.

"What I've drawn from this hearing is that the operative genuinely feared for the safety of the lives of his colleagues and also himself and had to make a critical decision in a fraction of a second, unaware of Linda's presence," Ridley said Tuesday at the inquest, according to Reuters.

The two-page coroner's report, a copy of which was reviewed by AOL News, lays out the events leading to Norgrove's death. It describes how, as operatives moved in, they lost track of Norgrove, who was taken by her captors out of the building.

When the Seal tossed the grenade, he believed it was into an area where two kidnappers were alive and posed an immediate threat. Norgrove was thought to be still inside the building.

The report emphasizes that the final events took place over a matter of seconds.

Norgrove had been kidnapped while working in Afghanistan's Kunar province and was held for 11 days before being killed during the attempted U.S.-U.K. rescue mission. Initially, it was reported that Norgrove was killed by her captors.

The British inquest was the final chapter of the U.K.-led investigation into Norgrove's death. In October, Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan, tapped U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Joseph L. Votel, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, to investigate the events leading to Norgrove's death.

That investigation was completed last year and briefed to U.K. authorities before the coroner began his inquest, Army Lt. Col. Michael T. Lawhorn, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, told AOL News. The U.S. investigation will likely be released publicly in the next week, he added.

"One tragic aspect was that when the grenade was thrown, the insurgents were all dead or dying and the only person killed by the grenade was Linda," John Norgrove, Linda Norgrove's father, said following the inquest, according to the London Telegraph.