London (CNN) -- A British coroner has cleared the emergency services of failing to respond quickly enough when a series of bombs tore through London's transport system on July 7, 2005.
Recording a verdict of unlawful killing in the deaths of 52 people on 7/7, Justice Heather Hallett ruled that the severity of their injuries meant each of them would have died, no matter how quickly help reached them.
In the wake of the suicide bombings -- on three tube trains and a bus during the morning rush-hour -- there were claims that police and firefighters had been unwilling to get close to the scenes of the blasts because of safety fears.
But Hallett praised all those on duty that day, insisting that emergency crews "did all that they could to ensure that lives were saved".
In her report into the disaster, the coroner said that the best and worst of humanity had been on display in London on 7/7.
"At each and every scene ordinary men and women, whether victims of the attack, passers by or those acting in the course of their professional duties, reacted with extraordinary courage, composure and compassion," she said. CNN
