DATE: Sunday, September 21, 1997            TAG: 9709210084

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   49 lines

BODY FOUND IN VAN PULLED FROM RIVER IS THAT OF SAILOR SHE WAS LAST SEEN ON APRIL 24, 1995.

Grim expectations became reality Saturday with confirmation that remains found in a van that was pulled from the Elizabeth River at Norshipco on Thursday are those of a sailor who vanished 2 1/2 years ago.

Cmdr. Mike Andrews, a Navy spokesman, said an examination by the State Medical Examiner's office in Norfolk confirmed that the remains are those of Seaman Apprentice Fatima Jean Khan.

Andrews said Khan's family was notified as soon as the identification, made with the use of dental records, was official.

Khan, 20, was last seen on April 24, 1995, when she was given the keys to several Navy vehicles and told to make certain they were secure in a shipyard parking area. After she was reported missing, naval investigators found that one of the vehicles, a white, 13-passenger 1990 Dodge van, also had disappeared.

The Baltimore native with Pakistani roots was considered a good worker whose disappearance was out of character.

She was not assigned to any security-sensitive duties. Her belongings, including cash, checkbook and two pocketbooks, were found in her locker.

Khan's disappearance had sparked a nationwide search, but it turned out she had never gone far from her ship, the oiler Merrimack.

The missing van was lifted from the murky water on Thursday after divers followed a trail of seeping oil down to it.

It was found next to Norshipco's Pier 3, the same pier where the Merrimack had been tied up when it was at the yard for routine repairs 2 1/2 years ago.

Left unanswered - possibly forever - is what happened that night. Did Khan, who had no driver's license, attempt to drive to her ship in the van? Did she drive off the pier in the dark or lose her bearings while attempting to turn the long van around on the pier?

Police have said there is no evidence of foul play.

Navy divers had scoured the Elizabeth River near the Merrimack shortly after Khan disappeared, but found nothing.

A more coordinated search, using aircraft and ground units, also turned up no sign of Khan or the vehicle.

Civilian divers who were sent into the water Thursday to find the source of the oil leak were not surprised that the earlier search yielded nothing.

There is almost no visibility in the filthy water, and the van had sunk into muck on the river bottom, wheels up, they said, making it impossible to find. KEYWORDS: MISSING PERSONS DROWNINGS ACCIDENT

TRAFFIC ACCIDENT GENERAL

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