Body found said to be Lynn woman

LYNN – Officials believe the body recovered Thursday near the mouth of the Merrimack River is that of a 22-year-old Lynn woman swept off a sandbar near Plum Island in Newburyport on May 25.According to the Newburyport Police and State Police detectives, two fishermen found the body, reportedly Marinna Khon’s, around 9:30 a.m., not far from where Khon disappeared.The fishermen called 911 and the Coast Guard immediately launched a 25-foot boat to retrieve the body, which was taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Boston, where a positive identification will be made.Khon, a 2006 Lynn Classical graduate and recent Syracuse University grad, had been playing with a group of friends, mostly from Lynn and Revere, when they were apparently caught unaware by the rising tide at approximately 5 p.m. May 25.Good Samaritan boaters in small vessels, an area harbormaster and local police were able to rescue seven others washed off the treacherous sand bar.Those rescued included Hoya Nguyen, 22, of Revere; Rahtha Saygnarath, 24, of Lynn, co-owner of the Foot Traffik athletic shoe store in Saugus; Thanada Saygnarath, 21, of Lynn; Calvin Keo, 20, of Lynn; a 21 year old from Lynn and a 20 year old from Revere.All but two of those rescued were carried off in stretchers to waiting ambulances. Two were able to walk but witnesses said one was unconscious.The Good Samaritans – on a jet ski and gaggle of small boats – took the seven survivors to the Captain Lady Dock near the town pier on Plum Island where emergency medical personnel were standing by.The young men and women had planned a day of fishing from the beach and touch football on the sand, hoping to enjoy the unseasonably warm day and temperatures over 90. A woman who identified herself as Rahtana Ny, 27, of Lynn, said she was among the group when the tide began rising quickly and people started screaming.Ny was on the beach fishing with three others and tried to help, but the current was powerful in the narrows where the Merrimack River races into the Atlantic Ocean.Newburyport Police Sgt. Peter Finnegan said the friends were in knee-deep water amid calm seas when the conditions changed, pulling them into the rush of water and out to sea.The Coast Guard had advised staying away from the sandbar, which was sculpted over the winter by ferocious tides and the river current.The several days of searching for Khon, who was wearing white shorts and a teal bathing suit, involved a Coast Guard Falcon jet, HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter assigned to the Cape Cod Air Station and a rescue boat stationed at the Merrimack River.The helicopter was fitted with night-vision equipment and thermal imaging devices. Several police departments also joined the search, including State Police Air Wing.The search area extended from the mouth of the Merrimack River to nearly four miles outside of the river and up to the Interstate 95 bridge.Newburyport police said belongings left behind by the group of friends included fishing tackle, food, a portable barbecue grill and towels, noting there was no sign of alcohol.Khon took two advanced-placement and two honors classes in her senior year. She also participated in the Upward Bound program for students headed to college. Classical High Principal Gene Constantino said Khon was an excellent student and one of her former teachers described her as smart and outgoing.Before attending Classical High, Khon was a student at the Tracy and Connery elementary schools, and Breed Middle School, according to School Department records.