DATE: Saturday, September 20, 1997          TAG: 9709200395

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN,STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   33 lines

MEDICAL EXAMINERS SEEK TO NAME SKELETAL REMAINS

The mystery surrounding the skeletal remains found in a submerged van continued Friday as examiners tried to determine whether they are those of a missing Navy woman.

The remains, discovered Thursday by divers investigating an oil leak, could be those of 20-year-old Fatimah Jean Khan, who disappeared April 24, 1995, after she was told to check on Navy vehicles parked at the shipyard.

After she was reported missing, investigators discovered that a 1990 Dodge van also had vanished.

A positive identification of the remains had not been made, a Navy spokesman said Friday. The remains were taken to the state medical examiner's office in Norfolk.

Dr. Leah Bush, the deputy chief medical examiner, could not discuss the investigation but said an identification in such cases could be made within hours if dental records matched. Other methods of identifying skeletal remains could take longer.

The discovery was made Thursday about 10:30 a.m. at Norshipco's Berkley shipyard. Divers from Crofton Diving Corp. were called after someone discovered oil rising to the surface between Pier 3 and the Military Sealift Command ship Cape Mendocino.

Diver Calvin Brouwer spotted the van upside down about 40 feet beneath the surface and then discovered the remains inside. The laborious task of hoisting the muck-encrusted van from the river took several hours. KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT TRAFFIC ACCIDENT GENERAL U.S. NAVY

MISSING PERSON NORSHIPCO

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