THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, October 1, 1996              TAG: 9610010267
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY                    LENGTH:   27 lines

CRABBER DIED OF DROWNING, CORONER SAYS THE BODY WAS FOUND MONDAY NEAR WEEKSVILLE.

Almost four days after waves washed an Albemarle Sound crabber out of his boat, a fellow waterman discovered the body.

Vince Van Ngo's body was floating near Frog Island Marina - close to Weeksville - about three-quarters of a mile from shore, at 9 a.m. Sunday.

The 41-year-old Elizabeth City man had been crabbing with a partner Thursday morning when he fell overboard and hit his head.

On Monday, a North Carolina medical examiner ruled that Ngo died as a result of accidental drowning.

``Another crabber found the body about a mile from where he went overboard,'' Pasquotank County Sheriff Randy Cartwright said. ``He called us and the Coast Guard, and we went out and retrieved it. The currents had carried him about where we expected.''

Ngo was not wearing a life jacket, Cartwright said.

A self-employed Vietnamese crabber, Ngo often sold his catch to Frog Island Seafood.

Funeral arrangements are pending at Green Funeral Home in Herndon, Va.

KEYWORDS: DROWNING DEATH OBITUARY by CNB