Five bodies were found among the remains of a luxury yacht that sank during a storm off the coast of Sicily, ANSA reported, quoted by BTA.
The head of Sicily's civil protection agency, Salvatore Cocina, said four bodies had been recovered and efforts to bring another body ashore were "continuing".
He said an investigation would be carried out in due course, but the priority was to find those still missing, PA Media and DPA reported.
The Italian coast guard had previously not ruled out the possibility that the missing, including tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, were still alive, with experts suggesting air pockets may have formed when the yacht sank.
Among the missing are the chairman of the board of directors of the bank "Morgan Stanley International" Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, the attorney at "Clifford Chance" Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo.
The British-flagged yacht owned by Mike Lynch's wife, which had 22 passengers and crew on board, was anchored off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, when it capsized in a heavy storm at dawn on Monday. The Coast Guard rescued 15 of them, and 7 remained missing.