diff --git a/packages/fetch/src/response.test.ts b/packages/fetch/src/response.test.ts
index cd7adbc..05f18ff 100644
--- a/packages/fetch/src/response.test.ts
+++ b/packages/fetch/src/response.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import type { StandardResponse } from '@standard-server/core'
+import { AsyncIteratorClass } from '@standard-server/shared'
 import * as Body from './body'
 import * as Headers from './headers'
 import { toFetchResponse, toStandardLazyResponse } from './response'
@@ -35,6 +36,35 @@ describe('toFetchResponse', () => {
     expect(toFetchHeadersSpy).toBeCalledTimes(1)
     expect(toFetchHeadersSpy).toBeCalledWith(toFetchBodySpy.mock.results[0]!.value[1])
   })
+
+  describe('releases the body when the response cannot be built', () => {
+    it('event-stream body when the status cannot have a body', async () => {
+      const next = vi.fn(() => new Promise<never>(() => {}))
+      const cleanup = vi.fn()
+
+      expect(() => toFetchResponse({ status: 204, headers: {}, body: new AsyncIteratorClass(next, cleanup) })).toThrow(TypeError)
+
+      // the event stream starts pulling right away, so it must be cancelled to stop
+      // the keep-alive interval and release the pending iterator
+      await vi.waitFor(() => expect(cleanup).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ kind: 'cancelled' }))
+      expect(next).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+    })
+
+    it('stream body when a header is invalid', () => {
+      const cancel = vi.fn()
+
+      expect(() => toFetchResponse({ status: 200, headers: { 'x-custom-header': 'a\nb' }, body: new ReadableStream({ cancel }) })).toThrow(TypeError)
+      expect(cancel).toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.any(TypeError))
+    })
+
+    it('throws the original error when the stream cannot be cancelled', () => {
+      const body = new ReadableStream()
+      body.getReader()
+
+      // a locked stream rejects `cancel()`, which must not surface as an unhandled rejection
+      expect(() => toFetchResponse({ status: 200, headers: {}, body })).toThrow(/locked/)
+    })
+  })
 })
 
 describe('toStandardLazyResponse', () => {
diff --git a/packages/fetch/src/response.ts b/packages/fetch/src/response.ts
index 050a1e7..bb4de31 100644
--- a/packages/fetch/src/response.ts
+++ b/packages/fetch/src/response.ts
@@ -11,15 +11,25 @@ export function toFetchResponse(
   options: ToFetchResponseOptions = {},
 ): Response {
   const [body, standardHeaders] = toFetchBody(standardResponse.body, standardResponse.headers, options)
-  const response = new Response(body, {
-    headers: toFetchHeaders(standardHeaders),
-    status: standardResponse.status,
-  })
 
-  // not sure why, but some tests (@hono/node-server) fail without pre-accessing body
-  void response.body
+  try {
+    const response = new Response(body, {
+      headers: toFetchHeaders(standardHeaders),
+      status: standardResponse.status,
+    })
 
-  return response
+    // not sure why, but some tests (@hono/node-server) fail without pre-accessing body
+    void response.body
+
+    return response
+  }
+  catch (error) {
+    if (body instanceof ReadableStream) {
+      body.cancel(error).catch(() => {})
+    }
+
+    throw error
+  }
 }
 
 export function toStandardLazyResponse(