diff --git a/internal/rows/arrowbased/batchloader.go b/internal/rows/arrowbased/batchloader.go
index 2d86478..aafff8f 100644
--- a/internal/rows/arrowbased/batchloader.go
+++ b/internal/rows/arrowbased/batchloader.go
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ func (cft *cloudFetchDownloadTask) Run() {
 		downloadStart := time.Now()
 		data, err := fetchBatchBytes(cft.ctx, cft.link, cft.minTimeToExpiry, cft.speedThresholdMbps, cft.httpClient)
 		if err != nil {
-			cft.resultChan <- cloudFetchDownloadTaskResult{data: nil, err: err}
+			cft.sendResult(cloudFetchDownloadTaskResult{data: nil, err: err})
 			return
 		}
 
@@ -306,7 +306,7 @@ func (cft *cloudFetchDownloadTask) Run() {
 		data.Close() //nolint:errcheck,gosec // G104: close after reading data
 		downloadMs := time.Since(downloadStart).Milliseconds()
 		if err != nil {
-			cft.resultChan <- cloudFetchDownloadTaskResult{data: nil, err: err}
+			cft.sendResult(cloudFetchDownloadTaskResult{data: nil, err: err})
 			return
 		}
 
@@ -316,10 +316,21 @@ func (cft *cloudFetchDownloadTask) Run() {
 			cft.link.RowCount,
 		)
 
-		cft.resultChan <- cloudFetchDownloadTaskResult{data: bytes.NewReader(buf), err: nil, downloadMs: downloadMs}
+		cft.sendResult(cloudFetchDownloadTaskResult{data: bytes.NewReader(buf), err: nil, downloadMs: downloadMs})
 	}()
 }
 
+// sendResult delivers the download result to the consumer, but drops it if the
+// task's context has already been cancelled. Without this guard, a goroutine
+// that finishes its work after the iterator is closed blocks forever on the
+// unbuffered resultChan and pins the downloaded buffer in the heap (issue #356).
+func (cft *cloudFetchDownloadTask) sendResult(result cloudFetchDownloadTaskResult) {
+	select {
+	case cft.resultChan <- result:
+	case <-cft.ctx.Done():
+	}
+}
+
 // logCloudFetchSpeed calculates and logs download speed metrics
 func logCloudFetchSpeed(fullURL string, contentLength int64, duration time.Duration, speedThresholdMbps float64) {
 	if contentLength > 0 && duration.Seconds() > 0 {
diff --git a/internal/rows/arrowbased/batchloader_test.go b/internal/rows/arrowbased/batchloader_test.go
index 59947ff..52e7dc4 100644
--- a/internal/rows/arrowbased/batchloader_test.go
+++ b/internal/rows/arrowbased/batchloader_test.go
@@ -6,7 +6,10 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
+	"runtime"
+	"strings"
 	"sync"
+	"sync/atomic"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
@@ -604,3 +607,97 @@ func generateMockArrowBytes(record arrow.Record) []byte {
 	}
 	return buf.Bytes()
 }
+
+// TestCloudFetchIterator_CloseReleasesInFlightDownloads reproduces issue #356:
+// when the consumer closes the iterator while downloads are still in flight,
+// goroutines that completed their HTTP fetch get permanently blocked sending
+// to the unbuffered resultChan. They retain the downloaded buffers (Arrow
+// allocations in earlier versions, raw bytes in current code) until process
+// exit, producing a heap plateau that only releases on restart.
+//
+// The test schedules many concurrent downloads, lets them complete, and then
+// closes the iterator without consuming the queued results. After Close
+// returns, no cloudFetchDownloadTask goroutines must remain.
+func TestCloudFetchIterator_CloseReleasesInFlightDownloads(t *testing.T) {
+	arrowBytes := generateMockArrowBytes(generateArrowRecord())
+
+	// Track in-flight downloads. The server signals each request as it starts
+	// and waits on a release channel so the test can hold downloads in the
+	// queued-but-not-yet-consumed state before closing the iterator.
+	var inFlight atomic.Int64
+	release := make(chan struct{})
+	server := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		inFlight.Add(1)
+		<-release
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+		_, _ = w.Write(arrowBytes)
+	}))
+	defer server.Close()
+
+	const nLinks = 20
+	links := make([]*cli_service.TSparkArrowResultLink, nLinks)
+	for i := range links {
+		links[i] = &cli_service.TSparkArrowResultLink{
+			FileLink:       server.URL,
+			ExpiryTime:     time.Now().Add(10 * time.Minute).Unix(),
+			StartRowOffset: int64(i),
+			RowCount:       1,
+		}
+	}
+
+	cfg := config.WithDefaults()
+	cfg.UseLz4Compression = false
+	cfg.MaxDownloadThreads = 10
+
+	bi, err := NewCloudBatchIterator(context.Background(), links, 0, nil, cfg, nil)
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+
+	// Kick off the first batch download. The iterator schedules
+	// MaxDownloadThreads concurrent fetches behind the scenes.
+	go func() { _, _ = bi.Next() }()
+
+	// Wait for all MaxDownloadThreads goroutines to be blocked inside the
+	// server handler (they've issued the GET and are waiting for the body).
+	assert.Eventually(t, func() bool {
+		return inFlight.Load() == int64(cfg.MaxDownloadThreads)
+	}, 5*time.Second, 10*time.Millisecond, "expected %d in-flight downloads", cfg.MaxDownloadThreads)
+
+	// Release the downloads so each goroutine finishes its HTTP read and
+	// attempts to send its result on the unbuffered resultChan. Only the
+	// first task's result will be read (by the Next() call above); the rest
+	// will be queued, blocked on the send.
+	close(release)
+
+	// Give the goroutines time to finish their HTTP work and reach the
+	// channel send.
+	time.Sleep(200 * time.Millisecond)
+
+	// Close the iterator without consuming the remaining batches.
+	bi.Close()
+
+	// After Close, every cloudFetchDownloadTask goroutine must exit. We don't
+	// compare against the total goroutine count because httptest keeps
+	// persistent server/transport goroutines around — we look only for our
+	// own download goroutines.
+	assert.Eventually(t, func() bool {
+		return countDownloadTaskGoroutines() == 0
+	}, 5*time.Second, 50*time.Millisecond,
+		"cloudFetchDownloadTask goroutines leaked after Close: have %d",
+		countDownloadTaskGoroutines())
+}
+
+// countDownloadTaskGoroutines returns the number of live goroutines whose
+// stack includes cloudFetchDownloadTask.Run. Used to detect the leak in
+// issue #356.
+func countDownloadTaskGoroutines() int {
+	buf := make([]byte, 64*1024)
+	for {
+		n := runtime.Stack(buf, true)
+		if n < len(buf) {
+			buf = buf[:n]
+			break
+		}
+		buf = make([]byte, 2*len(buf))
+	}
+	return strings.Count(string(buf), "cloudFetchDownloadTask).Run")
+}