Italian police are investigating if a body that was discovered in a suitcase in the Italian port of Rimini is that of missing woman Li Yinglei.
A passer-by raised the alarm on Saturday, March 25, after they noticed a blue, locked suitcase in the water in the port of Rimini, a town located on the north-east coast of Italy on the Adriatic Sea.
The man initially attempted to take the suitcase out of the water but it was too heavy.
Police discovered the remains of a female wrapped up in a bin-bag in the suitcase. The remains were dismembered.
Authorities are now due to carry out a post-mortem on the body.
Chinese-born mother-of-two Li Yinglei disappeared from a luxury cruise aboard MSC Magnifica in the Mediterranean. She was last seen on February 11.
She was with her husband Daniel Belling (45) and their children when she disappeared.
The couple, who lived in Clare Hall, Dublin, had set off on an 11-day cruise with their two children aboard the MSC Magnifica.
The ship set sail from Port Civitavecchia on February 9 and continued on to Genoa, Malta, Greece and Cyprus.
Crew members noticed Ms Yinglei was missing when they did a head count at the end of the cruise.
Police are examining the theory that she was murdered, placed inside a suitcase and thrown overboard.
Mr Belling, who is from Germany, was arrested at an Italian airport on February 20 as he was about to board a plane home to Ireland after his wife had disappeared.
He is now in prison in Italy on suspicion of murdering his wife during the cruise.
An Italian judge this week ruled that Mr Belling must remain in custody in Rome's Regina Coeli prison after attempts were made for him to be released on bail.
The accused's lawyer Luigi Conti said his client insists he had nothing to do with his wife's disappearance and maintains that she has fled to China or returned to Dublin.
A souvenir shop owner later told reporters she remembered the couple and their children in her store that morning, when Mr Belling was "agitated" and "yelled" at his wife about her shoes.
"He said, 'Put these on instead of your sandals and shut up'," the shop owner said, adding that he handed his wife a pair of gym shoes.
However, according to local reports, Mr Belling told a magistrate during a prison court hearing that the family remained together until the ship reached Katakolon in Greece.
Mr Belling reportedly told the judge they had quarrelled the night before and she wanted to "quit the trip".