Divers search for body of Lynn girl swept off sandbar

A U.S. Coast Guard boat is standing to create a safety zone for State Police divers scouring the waters off Plum Island where a Lynn woman was swept from a sandbar Tuesday.
Marinna Khon, 22, was wading in the Merrimack River where it pours into the Atlantic Ocean when the group apparently became trapped by the incoming tide. Khon’s friends were rescued by Good Samaritan boaters but she was not.
An extensive search operation by boat, jet plane and helicopter became a recovery mission by Wednesday. The Coast Guard planned to use sonar in an effort to locate the woman’s body.
“The decision to end the search for Ms. Khon is a very difficult one,” said Cmdr. Nathan Knapp, the deputy of response at Coast Guard Sector Boston. “As a life saving service, it’s never easy to end a search with someone still missing at sea. Our thoughts are with her family and friends during this difficult time.”
Knapp said a Coast Guard 47-foot boat crew will remain on scene providing a safety zone for the Massachusetts State Dive Team. Coast Guard crews searched nearly 120 square miles in an effort to find the woman, the commander said.
Khon, a 2006 Lynn Classical High School graduate, just completed her bachelor’s degree at Syracuse University and had returned home to Lynn to seek job opportunities in the Boston area.